Dorgan blasts DoD on toxic exposure cases

WASHINGTON, Aug. 4 (UPI) -- The U.S. Defense Department has failed to protect soldiers in Iraq from hazardous chemicals, a senior Democratic lawmaker says.

The testimony of a former Oregon National Guardsman and three other Iraq combat veterans who claim to have suffered health problems since being exposed to hexavalent chromium in 2003 brought an angry response from Sen. Byron Dorgan, D-N.D., at a Monday hearing, The (Portland) Oregonian reported.

An earlier U.S. Army investigation into the exposure was "tragically inadequate," Dorgan said, comparing it to the government's mishandling of Agent Orange used during the Vietnam War.

"The Defense Department failed to protect our troops," The Oregonian reported Dorgan as saying. "And I believe they are downplaying this in part because it is an embarrassment to them."

Army officials have defended themselves and defense contractor Kellogg Brown & Root in their handling of the hexavalent chromium case.

Monday's hearing was the 20th conducted by Dorgan delving into the contracts between the U.S. Defense Department and KBR, the newspaper said.