Toxic Chemicals – Page 15 – Air Corps Chemical Abuse Survivors

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.”

Irish Army Air Corps: Concerns over scope of review of allegations made by whistleblowers

Concerns have been raised about the scope of the ongoing review of allegations made by Air Corps whistle-blowers. They claimed that staff were unnecessarily exposed to cancer-causing chemicals.

Last month, this newspaper revealed that the Health and Safety Authority threatened legal action against the Air Corps, unless it improved its management of technicians’ exposure to toxic substances.

The report came in October 2016, almost a year after three whistle-blowers made protected disclosures to the Government about Air Corps technicians’ exposure to harmful substances.

The Irish Examiner can now reveal that the independent third party appointed to review the protected disclosures, which were made between November 2015 and January 2016, has met with all three of the whistle-blowers.

Irish Air Corps hazard reports may have been “destroyed”

Health and safety reports dating back over 20 years that raised concerns over working conditions within the Air Corps may have been destroyed, the Taoiseach has been warned.

In a letter to the Taoiseach last week, Fianna Fáil defence spokeswoman Lisa Chambers said: “It appears that health and safety concerns were known at the base for some time and there was a failure to act which may have unnecessarily and negatively impacted on the health of those working and serving at the base.”

Last month, the Irish Examiner revealed the details of a damning report in which the Health and Safety Authority threatened legal action against the Air Corps unless it implemented a number of improvements in its management of workers’ exposure to cancer-causing chemicals.

Read more on the Irish Examiner website.

http://www.irishexaminer.com/ireland/air-corps-hazard-reports-may-have-been-destroyed-444301.html

Dutch Department of Defence knew about toxic paint risks 25 years ago

Letters obtained from health and safety inspectors and minutes of meetings reveal that the Defence Ministry was aware of the health risks associated with carcinogenic paint since 1987, but did not take steps to protect staff until eleven years later, according to broadcaster NOS.

Nearly two hundred defence employees complained about chromium-6, a toxic substance in the paint and varnish used on tanks and fighter aircraft in a number of workshops. Earlier this month, a historical investigation was launched by the National Institute for Public Health and Environment to investigate all complaints.

Article originally published 2nd October 2014

Dutch Ministry of Defence pays out €2.1 million so far in Ex Gratia Chromium-6 Exposure Compensation Scheme.

So far the Ministry of Defense paid out more than 2.1 million euros to 309 employees and former employees who became ill after working with paint containing carcinogenic substance Chromium-6, a Defense spokesperson confirmed to NU.nl.

The Defense workers in question took advantage of a goodwill scheme the Ministry instituted two years ago for Chromium-6 victims. Employees and former employees who worked with the toxic paint for more than a year and are sick can claim between 3 thousand and 15 thousand from the scheme, without the Ministry of Defense acknowledging guilt for their illness. The compensation scheme will remain in place until public health institute RIVM finished its investigation into the risks and health effects of using Chromium-6.

According to the spokesperson, Defense employees from across the Netherlands applied to the scheme. The Ministry received a total of 719 applications, 255 of which were immediately approved. Another 54 were approved or partly approved after the employee objected.

The compensation scheme shall remain in force until the National Institute for Public Health and the Environment (RIVM) research into the risks and health effects of Chromium-6 has been completed

Dáil Éireann Written Answers 21/02/17 – Department of Defence – Air Quality

Lisa Chambers (Mayo, Fianna Fail)

To ask the Taoiseach and Minister for Defence the date of the most recent air quality test carried out within the Air Corps main technical stores, Casement Aerodrome, Baldonnel, and adjoining office complex; and if he will provide the results of this test. [8657/17]

Paul Kehoe (Wexford, Fine Gael)

I am informed by the Military Authorities that an air quality test was carried out in main technical stores, Casement Aerodrome, Baldonnel and adjoining office complex on the 9th February 2017 by an external assessor. The report from this test is expected to be published 3/4 weeks from the date of testing.

Toxicant and Disease Database

Please find below a link to a very useful “Toxicant & Disease Database” hosted by the The Collaborative on Health and the Environment in the USA.

Enter a disease and see what evidence there is for known chemical causes. Enter a chemical and see what evidence there is for diseases caused by this chemical.

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.

Take Simon Coveney’s name off the gate he’s back from AWOL

Where was Minister Simon Coveney for the past four Wednesdays in a row when the Chemical Exposure Scandal at the Irish Air Corps was being discussed.

Has his absence anything to do with the fact that he actively ignored the whistle-blowers and then lied about attempts by whistle blowers to contact him.

Numerous retired & serving personnel have died since Simon Coveney ran away from this issue.

Military accused of Irish Army Air Corps cover-up on safety

The military has been accused of a “cover-up” in relation to how it dealt with reports of exposure to dangerous substances within the Air Corps.

The Government has also been accused of “major inconsistencies” in its account of how ministers managed the whistle-blowers warnings of health and safety issues in the Air Corps.

It comes after the Irish Examiner revealed details of a damning health-and-safety report on working conditions at Casement Aerodrome, Baldonnel.

Speaking in the Dáil, Sinn Féin’s Aengus Ó Snodaigh alleged that military authorities at Casement Aerodrome “did not take the required steps” when it was highlighted to them that dangerous chemicals existed.

Questioning the Minister of State with Special Responsibility for Defence, Paul Kehoe on when he first became aware of the health and safety concerns, Mr Ó Snodaigh said that it appeared that “there is a cover-up here”.

“I have seen health and safety reports going back as far as 1995, all of which pointed specifically to the issues that were addressed in the Examiner newspaper and which a number of deputies in this house have been raising with you.

“So this is not a new issue, this is a cover up because the military authorities in Casement Aerodrome did not take the required steps when it was highlighted to them that dangerous chemicals existed they didn’t take those steps,” Mr Ó Snodaigh claimed.