Military Base Virtual Triage
By Pat Elder
March 4, 2024
Virtual Triage provides veterans and their dependents with a method to link the diagnosis of their disease to the exposure of toxins commonly found on military installations.
It wasn’t easy settling on the 11 deadliest toxins here. We left some killers out. The contaminants below, however, are responsible for most of the suffering and death caused by the military.
Here’s the list of toxins we used to build the virtual triage spreadsheet:
2,4-D & 2,4,5-T (Agent Orange)
BENZENE
CARBON TETRACHLORIDE
HEXAVALENT CHROMIUM
METHYLENE CHLORIDE (Dichloromethane)
PFOS
PFOA
TETRACHLOROETHYLENE (PCE)
TOLUENE
TRICHLOROETHYLENE (TCE)
VINYL CHLORIDE (CHLOROETHENE)
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The NIH’s Pub Chem site provides the diseases and disorders associated with each of the contaminants above.
If your base is a Superfund facility, the EPA will have an exhaustive list of contaminants likely containing many of the toxins shown above. You can also search for the toxins at your installation on ProPublica’s Bombs in your backyard. This site describes levels of contaminants in groundwater, surface water, sediment, and soil.
Pub Chem shows there are 209 diseases and disorders associated with the 11 toxins above. We analyzed these illnesses and reported the military toxin associated with each one. For instance, glucose intolerance is associated with Benzene. Niemann-Pick Disease, Type C is linked to Toluene.
Thanks to Jim Sandoe for his invaluable contributions.
Please take a moment to examine Virtual Triage and see “Sheet 13” for the list of diseases and associated chemicals.
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Can you help us purchase the PFAS test kits we hope to use this summer to test waters near military sites in Ireland, Northern Ireland, Germany, Japan, and South Korea? We will be purchasing 60 kits at a cost of $79 each. That comes to $4,750. Please consider making a tax-deductible contribution to Veterans for Peace.
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