Monday, June 28, 2010
Marines in Helmand Province (photo: David Guttenfelder, Associated Press)
Soldiers returning home from Afghanistan with neurological problems may not be victims of just traumatic brain injury stemming from battles. Scientists with the U.S. Navy have speculated that toxic sand also may be damaging the nervous systems of troops, causing them to suffer memory loss and have trouble concentrating.
A study by the Navy Environmental Health Effects Laboratory of Afghanistan’s sand revealed traces of manganese, silicon, iron, magnesium, aluminum, chromium and other elements. Manganese alone has been shown to cause Parkinson’s-like symptoms.
Some experts believe that 20%-30% of U.S. veterans of the Afghanistan and Iraq wars may have cognitive problems, mostly as a result of explosions or other traumas.
-Noel Brinkerhoff
Toxic Sand: Another Enemy in Afghanistan? (by Sheila Kaplan, Politics Daily)
The New Agent Orange? Scientists Sound Alarm on Toxic Sand in Afghanistan (by Art Levine, Huffington Post)
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