leukaemia – Page 2 – Air Corps Chemical Abuse Survivors

Two men suing State over Air Corps chemical exposure say they have contracted cancer

Two of the men who are trying to take cases against the Air Corps over claims they were exposed to dangerous chemicals at Baldonnel Airfield say they have contracted cancer since starting the litigation.

The men, who have been attempting to have their case heard since 2013, are just two of six people who have cases which are currently at the ‘discovery’ phase.

One of the men was diagnosed with skin cancer last week. He says he has it in three places on his body – his head, arms and leg.

The other man says he was diagnosed with renal cancer in 2015. A tumour was discovered on his kidney after several visits to his doctor.

The men have maintained that their exposure to a number of chemicals at Baldonnel Airfield has led to them suffering from serious illnesses.

Watch Primetime on Tuesday 16th May where RTE will ask Minister Kehoe no hard questions about Air Corps Toxic Chemical Scandal.

Watch RTE Prime Time tomorrow featuring Minister Paul Kehoe and Chief of Staff Vice Admiral Mark Mellett.

RTE will NOT be asking any hard questions about large numbers of poisoned Air Corps personnel at both Casement & Gormanston Aerodromes nor will they discuss the high number of deaths & mutagenic diseases amongst the children of serving and Air Corps personnel.

RTE would not engage with ACCAS for this program.

‘In one case, a retired member’s wife had eight miscarriages in succession’ Irish Army Air Corps Toxic Chemical Scandal

A DEFENCE FORCES whistle-blower has made a protected disclosure alleging that a number of children of Air Corps workers have died as a result of being exposed to toxic chemicals at Baldonnel Airfield.

In a document seen by this publication, a Defence Forces whistle-blower has said that he has uncovered “the untimely deaths of at least 20 adults…of which I believe died of illness related to unprotected chemical exposure”.

The protected disclosure details the rank and specific illness of each of those who have passed away. We are not publishing these details as to do so would breach data protection rules.

There are also claims that the partners of male members of the force suffered serious fertility issues and a number of miscarriages. Other children, according to the protected disclosure, are living with life-changing illnesses.

Human rights of members of the armed forces

Recommendation CM/Rec(2010)4 of the Committee of Ministers to member states on human rights of members of the armed forces

(Adopted by the Committee of Ministers on 24 February 2010 at the 1077th meeting of the Ministers’ Deputies)

J-51. Current and, where applicable, former members of the armed forces should have access to information with regard to their exposure during service to situations, either past or present, which were or are potentially hazardous to their health.

When public authorities, including military authorities, engage in hazardous activities which might have latent adverse effects on health, they should put in place an accessible and efficient procedure which enables persons involved in such activities to access all relevant and appropriate information.

In addition, authorities should not only to disclose this type of information, but also to refrain from imposing a long and complex procedure to obtain such information.

Minister Paul Kehoe T.D. appears to be in breach of the human rights of Air Corps Chemical Abuse Survivors as his department refuses to inform military personnel who served in the Irish Army Air Corps of the hazardous & toxic chemicals they were actually exposed to in the working environment.

Updated Photo of Irish Air Corps NDT Workshop

We have updated our annotated photograph of the black hole of Baldonnel, that being the Non Destructive Testing (NDT) workshop of the Engine Repair Flight (ERF).

We have also added the old European hazard symbols (up to 2007) as well as the current R-Phrases as sub-menus under the Chemical Info menu.

Below are just 2 (lethal) chemicals from 1 location. All tech locations in Baldonnel used chemicals as well as photo section and refuelers. In all up to 300 different chemicals were in use with ZERO safety precautions.

Chemetall Ardrox 666

Dichloromethane:Methylene Chloride (Xn, R40)
Cresylic Acid (T, C, R24/25, R34)
Solvent Naphtha (Xn, N, R10,R37, R51/55, R65, R66, R67)
Sodium Chromate (T+, N, R45, R46, R60, R61, R21, R25, R26, R34, R42/43, R48/23, R50/53)
Dipentene:Limonene (Xi, N, R10, R38, R43, R50/53)

Risk Phases

R45 May cause cancer.
R46 May cause heritable genetic damage.
R60 May impair fertility.
R61 May cause harm to the unborn child.
R34 Causes Burns.
R42/43 May cause sensitisation by inhalation and skin contact
R52/53 Harmful to aquatic organisms, may cause long term averse effects in the aquatic environment.

Chemetall Ardrox 1074

Orthophosphoric Acid (C, R34)
Ethyl-methyl-ketone (F,Xi, R11, R36, R66, R67)
2,2’-oxydiethanol;diethylene-glycol (Xn, R22)
2-Butoxyethanol (Xn, R20/21/22, R36/38) Citric Acid (Xi,R36)
Hydroflouric acid (T+, C, R26/27/28, R35)

Risk Phases

R11 Highly Flammable
R20/21/22 Harmful by inhalation, in contact with skin or if swallowed.
R26/27/28 Very toxic by inhalation, in contact with skin and if swallowed.
R34/35 Causes burns / Severe Burns.
R36//37/38 Irritating to eyes, respiratory system and skin.
R66 Repeated exposure may cause skin dryness or cracking.
R67 Vapours may cause drowsiness and dizziness.

Silver Bullet – Another human cost of the Irish Air Corps Toxic Chemical Health & Safety scandal

Finding a silver bullet would be a good thing.

It would be great to get a the definite answer or even to establish why I am suffering in silence, embarrassed by years of sudden uncontrollable bowel issues, breathing issues & aching to the bones even after the slightest bit of manual work. Looking at other men your age running and exercising every day without a hint of tiredness.

When you say to your family that you have no energy to do basic household maintenance work you really mean it and are not being lazy or when you suddenly seem to enter a dark mood and depressive state for no reason.

Have ticked a lot of the boxes for the range of “unexplained symptoms” listed so far and I am really hoping that they are not caused by the workplace environment & chemical products handled over the years. Because it creates a real daily worry as to what the future holds. What quality of life will I have if some of the more serious illnesses that colleagues have suffered eventually get a grip on me!

See the known list of illnesses suffered by Air Corp Chemical Abuse survivors below.

ACCAS Adult Illness List

The other whistleblowers: Looking at the human cost of the #IrishAirCorps chemical scandal

AN AIR CORPS whistle-blower who claims he was exposed to harmful chemicals whilst in the force believes there could be more than 1,000 people affected by what he has described as “a scandal of the highest order”.

In an interview with TheJournal.ie, the man – who we are not naming as he has made a protected disclosure – detailed the trouble he experiences with daily life which he alleges traces back to his exposure to chemicals over a nine-year period at Baldonnel Airfield in west Dublin.

A 2016 inspection by the Health and Safety Authority (HSA) identified a number of shortcomings at Baldonnel with corrective actions then taken by the Defence Forces in relation to how it handles such chemicals.

According to the HSA report seen by TheJournal.ie, the Air Corps was warned it could face prosecution if it did not “comply with advice and relevant legal requirements” about how hazardous substances were managed, among other safety matters.

No probe of Irish Army Air Corps chemical exposure

The Government says it has no plans to establish a review to determine if the chronic illnesses suffered by former Air Corps staff were as a result of exposure to chemicals while working at Casement Aerodrome.

This is despite similar studies and investigations in Australia and the Netherlands.

The State is currently facing six legal actions from former Air Corps staff, who claim their chronic illnesses were caused by their working conditions at the military airfield in south-west Dublin.

Meanwhile, an official has been appointed to investigate claims by three whistleblowers, who made a number of allegations around the current health and safety measures within the Air Corps.

Last October, the Health and Safety Authority (HSA) issued a report calling on the Air Corps to implement a number of improvements on the management of staff exposure to hazardous chemicals.

However, responding to a question from Sinn Féin defence spokesperson Aengus Ó Snodaigh, junior defence minister Paul Kehoe said the Government did not intend to commission any specific study to investigate whether working conditions at Casement Aerodrome had an adverse effect on workers’ health.

“There are a number of processes already in train relating to reviewing health-and-safety procedures in the Air Corps,” said Mr Kehoe of the review of the whistleblowers’ claims and the Defence Forces’ response to the HSA report.

“In the circumstances and pending the completion of the ongoing processes, I have no plans to commission another review on this matter.”

Human health effects of Trichloroethylene: key findings & scientific issues

BACKGROUND: In support of the Integrated Risk Information System (IRIS), the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) completed a toxicological review of trichloroethylene (TCE) in September 2011, which was the result of an effort spanning > 20 years.

OBJECTIVES: We summarised the key findings and scientific issues regarding the human health effects of TCE in the U.S. EPA’s toxicological review.

METHODS: In this assessment we synthesised and characterised thousands of epidemiologic, experimental animal, and mechanistic studies, and addressed several key scientific issues through modelling of TCE toxicokinetics, meta-analyses of epidemiologic studies, and analyses of mechanistic data.

DISCUSSION: Toxicokinetic modeling aided in characterizing the toxicological role of the complex metabolism and multiple metabolites of TCE. Meta-analyses of the epidemiologic data strongly supported the conclusions that TCE causes kidney cancer in humans and that TCE may also cause liver cancer and non-Hodgkin lymphoma. Mechanistic analyses support a key role for mutagenicity in TCE-induced kidney carcinogenicity. Recent evidence from studies in both humans and experimental animals point to the involvement of TCE exposure in autoimmune disease and hypersensitivity. Recent avian and in vitro mechanistic studies provided biological plausibility that TCE plays a role in developmental cardiac toxicity, the subject of substantial debate due to mixed results from epidemiologic and rodent studies.

CONCLUSIONS: TCE is carcinogenic to humans by all routes of exposure and poses a potential human health hazard for non-cancer toxicity to the central nervous system, kidney, liver, immune system, male reproductive system, and the developing embryo/fetus.

Read full article on US National Library of Medicine National Institutes of Health.

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3621199/

Please note that the tower to the left of the hangar is the exhaust stack for the original Trike bath and is as old as the main ERF building (built 1915-1918).

Recent internal reports by the Air Corps suggest that Trike degreasing was only introduced to the Air Corps in the 1980s but this information is clearly incorrect possibly by 50-60 years.

26 victims of RAF cancer: Scots veterans launch legal fight against MoD for years of deadly chemical exposure after cancers ravage their squippers group

Scottish RAF workers are set to launch a multi-million-pound legal fight after being exposed to deadly chemicals which they claim caused cancer.

The Ministry of Defence have been accused of failing to accept responsibility for the horrific illnesses and deaths of 26 former servicemen who were regularly exposed to toxic substances at Scottish air bases.

The airmen and women were part of a specialist branch called “squippers”, who repaired aircrew survival equipment at UK bases including Lossiemouth, Leuchars and Kinloss in the 80s and 90s.

They claim deadly illnesses were caused by daily exposure over years of service to carcinogenic chemicals in poorly ventilated rooms with little or no protective clothing.

Many of the specialist engineers now have various cancers including non-Hodgkin lymphoma, throat cancer and blood cancer.