PBS高端访谈:战争中的焚烧坑导致了老兵们的肺部疾病?

 　　GWEN IFILL: Brain injury and post-traumatic stress disorder¹ are two well-known signature wounds of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. But there is another injury, lung disease, that afflicts² tens of thousands of veterans. Many blame a single defense³ contractor⁴ and have filed a class action lawsuit⁵, a case that has now made its way to the Supreme⁶ Court.

　　NewsHour producer Dan Sagalyn has been covering this, and Hari Sreenivasan has the story.

　　MAN: We have a burn pit down here.

　　HARI SREENIVASAN: This shaky video of smoke from burning garbage was shot by an American soldier in Iraq in 2008. Throughout most of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, the military used so-called burn pits to dispose of virtually all waste.

　　MAN: That is what we leave next to. Luckily, the wind is not blowing our way today.

　　HARI SREENIVASAN: All kinds of things went up in smoke, from batteries, paint, solvents⁷ and tires, to newspapers, plastic water bottles, styrofoam, electronic equipment, and shipping⁸ materials such as plastic wrap. Even whole vehicles were burned.

　　At large bases, 30 to 40 of tons garbage were burned every day. At the gigantic logistical hubs, three to five times that amount was burned. Sometimes, jet fuel was even used to ignite the trash. According to the veterans we spoke⁹ to, the smoke from the burn pits permeated¹⁰ the living quarters and work spaces on base.

　　SGT. 1ST CLASS STEVEN GARDNER, (RET), U.S. Army: There was really no place to escape. The smoke would blow across you, you would turn your back to it, and hope that the wind would change.

　　LT. COL. RICK LAMBERTH, (RET.), U.S. Army: You have to breath, or you die. And, sometimes, even the soot¹¹ would fly out of the burn pits and get on your uniform or on your vehicle.

　　LT. COL. BRIAN BOWER¹² (RET.), U.S. Marine¹³ Corps¹⁴: At night, when the winds dropped, that's when you didn't want to the burn pits to be operating because it would blanket the base.

　　HARI SREENIVASAN: These three officers, Army Sergeant¹⁵ 1st Class Steven Gardner, Army Lieutenant¹⁶ Colonel Rick Lamberth, and Marine Corps Lieutenant Colonel Brian Bower, were medically retired¹⁷ from the military. They say the burn pit smoke was toxic¹⁸ and made them sick.

　　SGT. 1ST CLASS STEVEN GARDNER: I used to run five-minute miles. Now I can't walk down the block without breathing real heavy. I can't carry objects without getting out of breath. I have a tightness constantly in my chest.

　　LT. COL. RICK LAMBERTH: I no longer can hold out to run. I don't have the stamina¹⁹. At one time, I could go run five or 6.6 miles at a time, a 10k at a time.

　　A lot of times even during the day, I cough and people look at me like I'm a smoker²⁰. Sometimes it's embarrassing.

　　LT. COL. BRIAN BOWER: I believe that I have lung cancer as a result of exposure to the burn pits. I'm not a smoker. I was diagnosed within a year after leaving active duty. And the diagnosis²¹ came from the Veterans Administration. It was diagnosed as exposure to burn pits, and I had part of my lung removed.

　　HARI SREENIVASAN: These men are part of a class action lawsuit which has 250 named plaintiffs. But they represent a group of potentially up to 100,000 veterans and civilian²² contractors²³ who could join suit.

　　They're suing Kellogg Brown & Root, or KBR, the company that used to be a subsidiary of Halliburton and was contracted to provide logistical support to the military in Iraq and Afghanistan. It was KBR's job to truck in supplies, feed troops, and get rid of the garbage.

　　SUSAN BURKE, Lead Attorney: We have outlawed²⁴ burning of waste in this country for decades. You cannot go in your backyard and burn all your trash in a bucket. And the reason why is that it's known to be harmful to human health.

　　HARI SREENIVASAN: Susan Burke is the lead attorney for the class action lawsuit. She says KBR was negligent²⁵ and made the service members sick.

　　SUSAN BURKE: One of the things that they promised to do was to take care of the waste, to dispose of the waste in a manner that wasn't harmful to the troops. They didn't do that. So, the complaint alleges²⁶ that that open air burning, which violated the terms of the contract, caused these injuries.

　　ROBERT MATTHEWS, Attorney, KBR: That's completely false. We exactly lived up to our contractual promise.

　　HARI SREENIVASAN: Robert Matthews is the lead counsel for KBR. He points to a letter from the commander of coalition²⁷ forces in Iraq, General David Petraeus, to Congress written in 2008.

　　The letter says — quote — "There is and will continue to be a need for burn pits during contingency²⁸ operations."

　　The Government Accountability Office issued a report confirming that the top military commanders approved the use of these open air fires.

　　ROBERT MATTHEWS: The decisions to use burn pits were made by senior military rank across these war theaters.

　　HARI SREENIVASAN: Matthews says other alternatives were not feasible. Burying the refuse off base was too risky²⁹. Burying it on base, well, there wasn't enough space. There was no recycling in Iraq and Afghanistan. And it was up to the military to decide if it wanted to bring in incinerators which burn cleanly. He says historically the Army always burned its garbage in war zones because it's the least bad option.

　　ROBERT MATTHEWS: More than 50 percent of the burn pits that are in play around Iraq and Afghanistan through that 10-year period were operated by the military itself, not by KBR or other contractors.

　　HARI SREENIVASAN: The class action lawsuit has been in the courts since 2008. Just earlier this year, the Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals ruled the case should go forward. But KBR has asked the Supreme Court to intervene. The company asserts that, just like the government, it should be immune from lawsuits³⁰.

　　ROBERT MATTHEWS: Where the United States is at war on a battlefield engaged in combatant activities, the companies like KBR who are embedded³¹ with the forces, who are performing mission-critical services shouldn't be subject to the kind of claims that have been made here. If the United States is immune from such claims, so too should KBR and those other contractor companies.

　　HARI SREENIVASAN: Susan Burke disagrees.

　　SUSAN BURKE: What they're trying to say is that simply because they work for the government, they are the government. We know that's not the case. This is a private company that's making a huge profit margin³². They are not the government and they don't deserve the government immunities³³.

　　HARI SREENIVASAN: By 2010, the military eventually shipped in nearly 40 incinerators to Iraq and 20 to Afghanistan, although the veterans we spoke to said they often were not used.

　　MAN: We don't know if we're receiving fire, but that's exploding paint cans.

　　HARI SREENIVASAN: Besides these legal issues, there is debate over how much burn pits contributed to people's illnesses.

　　Craig Postlewaite is a top official in the Defense Department's Public Health Division. He says it's possible some soldiers got sick from inhaling³⁴ burn pit smoke, but not likely that many were affected³⁵.

　　CRAIG POSTLEWAITE, Department of Defense: It would be plausible³⁶ for a specific individual maybe to acquire some kind of condition related to burn pit smoke depending on how close they were to the burn pit, how much smoke they breathed, individual susceptibilities and even exposure to other airborne particulates³⁸. We feel that if there are people who have been harmed by burn pit emissions³⁹, the numbers are fairly low.

　　HARI SREENIVASAN: Postlewaite points to many other pollutants⁴⁰ in the air that could have caused veterans' respiratory problems.

　　CRAIG POSTLEWAITE: It's a very, very dusty environment. Plus, the urban pollutants aren't regulated well. The cars and trucks are not regulated, so there's a lot of airborne material in the air that could be contributory towards long-term health effects.

　　HARI SREENIVASAN: But Dr. Anthony Szema sees a direct connection between sick veterans and the burn pits. At Stony⁴¹ Brook⁴² School of Medicine in New York, where he does research, he's exposed mice to dust from military bases in Iraq that had burn pits.

　　DR. ANTHONY SZEMA, Stony Brook School of Medicine: And this healthy mouse, we then gave dust from Camp Victory Iraq collected in 2007 at the time they had burn pits, and the dust induces a lung injury.

　　HARI SREENIVASAN: Szema has a private practice and is also a doctor at Northport Veterans Affairs Medical Center, although the views he expresses here are his own.

　　DR. ANTHONY SZEMA: Humans exposed to particulate³⁷ matter air pollution have a higher risk of death, premature⁴³ death. They have higher risks of lung disease such as premature emphysema, chronic⁴⁴ obstructive pulmonary disease, even in the absence of smoking, as well as asthma⁴⁵. Benzene is a carcinogen, so if you burn your trash with jet fuel called JP-8, when you burn in a burn pit, it's burning at low heat. At low heat, it generates more particles and has products of incomplete combustion⁴⁶.

　　These products are dangerous. In addition, if you burn plastic water bottles, among the chemicals you can release include a neurotoxin called n-Hexane.

　　HARI SREENIVASAN: While the lawyers and the health professionals debate the legal and medical issues, the veterans we spoke to compare their experiences to soldiers exposed to Agent Orange in Vietnam. That's the defoliant the Army used which caused cancer, nerve damage and respiratory injury in hundreds of thousands of soldiers.

　　Marine Corps Lieutenant Colonel Brian Bower:

　　LT. COL. BRIAN BOWER: Nobody went out to purposefully hurt, again, soldiers, airmen, sailors and Marines. And so — but people are suffering from exposure to it afterwards. And the military response is very similar probably to Agent Orange, which was at first denial, assessment⁴⁷, acceptance of culpability⁴⁸, and treatment. We seem to be going through those same phases now.

　　HARI SREENIVASAN: The veterans we spoke to say while they wish they weren't sick, they'd still serve in Iraq and Afghanistan all over again.

　　SGT. 1ST CLASS STEVEN GARDNER: I'm proud of my military service. I'm proud of what the military has done over there. If I had known that this would be my outcome, I still would have continued and done exactly the same thing.

　　HARI SREENIVASAN: Meanwhile, KBR says if they and other battlefield defense contractors are allowed to be sued, it's unlikely they would deploy⁴⁹ with the military in the next war.

　　ROBERT MATTHEWS: If they are exposed to these lawsuits for decades of litigation and potentially tens, if not hundreds of millions of dollars in liabilities, then it's very likely that these companies are going to think twice about stepping forward the next time this country goes to war.

　　HARI SREENIVASAN: The Supreme Court is now in the process of deciding whether or not to hear this case or send it back to a lower court, where it can go to trial.

　　For the "PBS NewsHour," I'm Hari Sreenivasan.

　　JUDY WOODRUFF: If you would like more on this story, go to our Web site for extended interviews and a slide show of burn pit photos submitted to us by those who served in Iraq and Afghanistan.

1 disorder   

n.紊乱，混乱；骚动，骚乱；疾病，失调

参考例句：

• When returning back,he discovered the room to be in disorder.回家后，他发现屋子里乱七八糟。
• It contained a vast number of letters in great disorder.里面七零八落地装着许多信件。

2 afflicts   

使受痛苦，折磨( afflict的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• Level 3-Afflicts a target with the Curse of the Silent. 三级-用静默诅咒折磨一个目标。
• Level 1-Afflicts a target with the Curse of the Silent. 一级-用静默诅咒折磨一个目标。

3 defense   

n.防御，保卫；[pl.]防务工事；辩护，答辩

参考例句：

• The accused has the right to defense.被告人有权获得辩护。
• The war has impacted the area with military and defense workers.战争使那个地区挤满了军队和防御工程人员。

4 contractor   

n.订约人，承包人，收缩肌

参考例句：

• The Tokyo contractor was asked to kick $ 6000 back as commission.那个东京的承包商被要求退还6000美元作为佣金。
• The style of house the contractor builds depends partly on the lay of the land.承包商所建房屋的式样，有几分要看地势而定。

5 lawsuit   

n.诉讼，控诉

参考例句：

• They threatened him with a lawsuit.他们以诉讼威逼他。
• He was perpetually involving himself in this long lawsuit.他使自己无休止地卷入这场长时间的诉讼。

6 supreme   

adj.极度的，最重要的；至高的，最高的

参考例句：

• It was the supreme moment in his life.那是他一生中最重要的时刻。
• He handed up the indictment to the supreme court.他把起诉书送交最高法院。

7 solvents   

溶解的，溶剂

参考例句：

• It is resistant to borohydride reduction in alcoholic solvents. 在醇溶剂中，它不能被硼氢化物还原。
• Strains require special treatments for removal such as spotting with organic solvents. 要清除这些着色物质，需要特殊处理，例如：滴加有机溶剂。

8 shipping   

n.船运（发货，运输，乘船）

参考例句：

• We struck a bargain with an American shipping firm.我们和一家美国船运公司谈成了一笔生意。
• There's a shipping charge of ￡5 added to the price.价格之外另加五英镑运输费。

9 spoke   

n.（车轮的）辐条；轮辐；破坏某人的计划；阻挠某人的行动 v.讲，谈（speak的过去式）；说；演说；从某种观点来说

参考例句：

• They sourced the spoke nuts from our company.他们的轮辐螺帽是从我们公司获得的。
• The spokes of a wheel are the bars that connect the outer ring to the centre.辐条是轮子上连接外圈与中心的条棒。

10 permeated   

弥漫( permeate的过去式和过去分词 )； 遍布； 渗入； 渗透

参考例句：

• The smell of leather permeated the room. 屋子里弥漫着皮革的气味。
• His public speeches were permeated with hatred of injustice. 在他对民众的演说里，充满了对不公正的愤慨。

11 soot   

n.煤烟，烟尘；vt.熏以煤烟

参考例句：

• Soot is the product of the imperfect combustion of fuel.煤烟是燃料不完全燃烧的产物。
• The chimney was choked with soot.烟囱被煤灰堵塞了。

12 bower   

n.凉亭，树荫下凉快之处；闺房；v.荫蔽

参考例句：

• They sat under the leafy bower at the end of the garden and watched the sun set.他们坐在花园尽头由叶子搭成的凉棚下观看落日。
• Mrs. Quilp was pining in her bower.奎尔普太太正在她的闺房里度着愁苦的岁月。

13 marine   

adj.海的；海生的；航海的；海事的；n.水兵

参考例句：

• Marine creatures are those which live in the sea. 海洋生物是生存在海里的生物。
• When the war broke out,he volunteered for the Marine Corps.战争爆发时，他自愿参加了海军陆战队。

14 corps   

n.(通信等兵种的)部队；(同类作的)一组

参考例句：

• The medical corps were cited for bravery in combat.医疗队由于在战场上的英勇表现而受嘉奖。
• When the war broke out,he volunteered for the Marine Corps.战争爆发时，他自愿参加了海军陆战队。

15 sergeant   

n.警官，中士

参考例句：

• His elder brother is a sergeant.他哥哥是个警官。
• How many stripes are there on the sleeve of a sergeant?陆军中士的袖子上有多少条纹？

16 lieutenant   

n.陆军中尉，海军上尉；代理官员，副职官员

参考例句：

• He was promoted to be a lieutenant in the army.他被提升为陆军中尉。
• He prevailed on the lieutenant to send in a short note.他说动那个副官，递上了一张简短的便条进去。

17 retired   

adj.隐退的，退休的，退役的

参考例句：

• The old man retired to the country for rest.这位老人下乡休息去了。
• Many retired people take up gardening as a hobby.许多退休的人都以从事园艺为嗜好。

18 toxic   

adj.有毒的，因中毒引起的

参考例句：

• The factory had accidentally released a quantity of toxic waste into the sea.这家工厂意外泄漏大量有毒废物到海中。
• There is a risk that toxic chemicals might be blasted into the atmosphere.爆炸后有毒化学物质可能会进入大气层。

19 stamina   

n.体力；精力；耐力

参考例句：

• I lacked the stamina to run the whole length of the race.我没有跑完全程的耐力。
• Giving up smoking had a magical effect on his stamina.戒烟神奇地增强了他的体力。

20 smoker   

n.吸烟者，吸烟车厢，吸烟室

参考例句：

• His wife dislikes him to be a smoker.他妻子不喜欢他当烟民。
• He is a moderate smoker.他是一个有节制的烟民。

21 diagnosis   

n.诊断，诊断结果，调查分析，判断

参考例句：

• His symptoms gave no obvious pointer to a possible diagnosis.他的症状无法作出明确的诊断。
• The engineer made a complete diagnosis of the bridge's collapse.工程师对桥的倒塌做一次彻底的调查分析。

22 civilian   

adj.平民的，民用的，民众的

参考例句：

• There is no reliable information about civilian casualties.关于平民的伤亡还没有确凿的信息。
• He resigned his commission to take up a civilian job.他辞去军职而从事平民工作。

23 contractors   

n.（建筑、监造中的）承包人( contractor的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• We got estimates from three different contractors before accepting the lowest. 我们得到3个承包商的报价后，接受了最低的报价。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• Contractors winning construction jobs had to kick back 2 per cent of the contract price to the mafia. 赢得建筑工作的承包商得抽出合同价格的百分之二的回扣给黑手党。 来自《简明英汉词典》

24 outlawed   

宣布…为不合法（outlaw的过去式与过去分词形式）

参考例句：

• Most states have outlawed the use of marijuana. 大多数州都宣布使用大麻为非法行为。
• I hope the sale of tobacco will be outlawed someday. 我希望有朝一日烟草制品会禁止销售。

25 negligent   

adj.疏忽的；玩忽的；粗心大意的

参考例句：

• The committee heard that he had been negligent in his duty.委员会听说他玩忽职守。
• If the government is proved negligent,compensation will be payable.如果证明是政府的疏忽，就应支付赔偿。

26 alleges   

断言，宣称，辩解( allege的第三人称单数 )

参考例句：

• The newspaper article alleges that the mayor is corrupt. 报纸上断言该市长腐败。
• Steven was tardy this morning and alleges that his bus was late. 史提芬今天早上迟到的说词是公车误点了。

27 coalition   

n.结合体，同盟，结合，联合

参考例句：

• The several parties formed a coalition.这几个政党组成了政治联盟。
• Coalition forces take great care to avoid civilian casualties.联盟军队竭尽全力避免造成平民伤亡。

28 contingency   

n.意外事件，可能性

参考例句：

• We should be prepared for any contingency.我们应该对任何应急情况有所准备。
• A fire in our warehouse was a contingency that we had not expected.库房的一场大火是我们始料未及的。

29 risky   

adj.有风险的，冒险的

参考例句：

• It may be risky but we will chance it anyhow.这可能有危险，但我们无论如何要冒一冒险。
• He is well aware how risky this investment is.他心里对这项投资的风险十分清楚。

30 lawsuits   

n.诉讼( lawsuit的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• Lawsuits involving property rights and farming and grazing rights increased markedly. 涉及财产权，耕作与放牧权的诉讼案件显著地增加。 来自辞典例句
• I've lost and won more lawsuits than any man in England. 全英国的人算我官司打得最多，赢的也多，输的也多。 来自辞典例句

31 embedded   

a.扎牢的

参考例句：

• an operation to remove glass that was embedded in his leg 取出扎入他腿部玻璃的手术
• He has embedded his name in the minds of millions of people. 他的名字铭刻在数百万人民心中。

32 margin   

n.页边空白；差额；余地，余裕；边，边缘

参考例句：

• We allowed a margin of 20 minutes in catching the train.我们有20分钟的余地赶火车。
• The village is situated at the margin of a forest.村子位于森林的边缘。

33 immunities   

免除，豁免( immunity的名词复数 )； 免疫力

参考例句：

• Supplying nutrients and immunities to my baby? 为我的宝贝提供营养物质和免疫物质？
• And these provide immunities against the a host of infections and diseases. 这些物质可提高婴儿的免疫力，使之免受病毒感染和疾病侵袭。

34 inhaling   

v.吸入( inhale的现在分词 )

参考例句：

• He was treated for the effects of inhaling smoke. 他因吸入烟尘而接受治疗。 来自辞典例句
• The long-term effects of inhaling contaminated air is unknown. 长期吸入被污染空气的影响还无从知晓。 来自互联网

35 affected   

adj.不自然的，假装的

参考例句：

• She showed an affected interest in our subject.她假装对我们的课题感到兴趣。
• His manners are affected.他的态度不自然。

36 plausible   

adj.似真实的，似乎有理的，似乎可信的

参考例句：

• His story sounded plausible.他说的那番话似乎是真实的。
• Her story sounded perfectly plausible.她的说辞听起来言之有理。

37 particulate   

adj.微小的；n.微粒，粒子

参考例句：

• A special group was organized to dig up the particulate of the case.成立了一个专门小组来查明该案件的各个细节。
• Lungs retain relatively insoluble particulate material.肺脏内留有不溶解的颗粒物质。

38 particulates   

n.微粒，粒子( particulate的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• Techniques for controlling particulates include filtering, washing, centrifugal separation, and electrostatic precipitation. 控制颗粒污染物的技术包括过滤、洗涤、离心分离、静电沉降。 来自英汉非文学 - 环境法 - 环境法
• Only micronic particulates penetrate to the depth of the lung. 只有微细粒子穿透到肺深部。 来自辞典例句

39 emissions   

排放物( emission的名词复数 )； 散发物（尤指气体）

参考例句：

• Most scientists accept that climate change is linked to carbon emissions. 大多数科学家都相信气候变化与排放的含碳气体有关。
• Dangerous emissions radiate from plutonium. 危险的辐射物从钚放散出来。

40 pollutants   

污染物质（尤指工业废物）( pollutant的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• Pollutants are constantly being released into the atmosphere. 污染物质正在不断地被排放到大气中去。
• The 1987 Amendments limit 301(g) discharges to a few well-studied nonconventional pollutants. 1987年的修正案把第301条（g）的普通排放限制施加在一些认真研究过的几种非常规污染物上。 来自英汉非文学 - 环境法 - 环境法

41 stony   

adj.石头的，多石头的，冷酷的，无情的

参考例句：

• The ground is too dry and stony.这块地太干，而且布满了石头。
• He listened to her story with a stony expression.他带着冷漠的表情听她讲经历。

42 brook   

n.小河，溪；v.忍受，容让

参考例句：

• In our room we could hear the murmur of a distant brook.在我们房间能听到远处小溪汩汩的流水声。
• The brook trickled through the valley.小溪涓涓流过峡谷。

43 premature   

adj.比预期时间早的；不成熟的，仓促的

参考例句：

• It is yet premature to predict the possible outcome of the dialogue.预言这次对话可能有什么结果为时尚早。
• The premature baby is doing well.那个早产的婴儿很健康。

44 chronic   

adj.(疾病)长期未愈的，慢性的；极坏的

参考例句：

• Famine differs from chronic malnutrition.饥荒不同于慢性营养不良。
• Chronic poisoning may lead to death from inanition.慢性中毒也可能由虚弱导致死亡。

45 asthma   

n.气喘病，哮喘病

参考例句：

• I think he's having an asthma attack.我想他现在是哮喘病发作了。
• Its presence in allergic asthma is well known.它在过敏性气喘中的存在是大家很熟悉的。

46 combustion   

n.燃烧；氧化；骚动

参考例句：

• We might be tempted to think of combustion.我们也许会联想到氧化。
• The smoke formed by their combustion is negligible.由它燃烧所生成的烟是可忽略的。

47 assessment   

n.评价；评估；对财产的估价，被估定的金额

参考例句：

• This is a very perceptive assessment of the situation.这是一个对该情况的极富洞察力的评价。
• What is your assessment of the situation?你对时局的看法如何？

48 culpability   

n.苛责，有罪

参考例句：

• As if the estrangement between them had come of any culpability of hers. 姐弟俩疏远的责任竟仿佛落到了她的身上！ 来自英汉文学 - 双城记
• The offence, as now defined in English law, covers a wide spectrum of culpability. 英国法律规定，违法包括很多种过失行为。 来自互联网

49 deploy   

v.（军）散开成战斗队形，布置，展开

参考例句：

• The infantry began to deploy at dawn.步兵黎明时开始进入战斗位置。
• The president said he had no intention of deploying ground troops.总统称并不打算部署地面部队。