Military operations produce a great deal of trash in an environment where standard waste management practices may be subordinated to more pressing concerns. As a result, ground forces have long relied on incineration in open-air pits as a means of getting rid of refuse. Concerns over possible adverse effects of exposure to smoke from trash burning in the theater were first expressed in the wake of the 1990–1991 Gulf War and stimulated a series of studies that indicated that exposures to smoke from oil-well fires and from other combustion sources, including waste burning, were stressors for troops. In January 2013, Congress directed the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) to establish and maintain a registry for service members who may have been exposed to toxic airborne chemicals and fumes generated by open burn pits.

Assessment of the Department of Veterans Affairs Airborne Hazards and Open Burn Pit Registry analyzes the initial months of data collected by the registry and offers recommendations on ways to improve the instrument and best use the information it collects. This report assesses the effectiveness of the VA''s information gathering efforts and provides recommendations for addressing the future medical needs of the affected groups, and provides recommendations on collecting, maintaining, and monitoring information collected by the VA''s Airborne Hazards and Open Burn Pit Registry.

Among the many who serve in the United States Armed Forces and who are deployed to distant locations around the world, myriad health threats are encountered. In addition to those associated with the disruption of their home life and potential for combat, they may face distinctive disease threats that are specific to the locations to which they are deployed. U.S. forces have been deployed many times over the years to areas in which malaria is endemic, including in parts of Afghanistan and Iraq. Department of Defense (DoD) policy requires that antimalarial drugs be issued and regimens adhered to for deployments to malaria-endemic areas. Policies directing which should be used as first and as second-line agents have evolved over time based on new data regarding adverse events or precautions for specific underlying health conditions, areas of deployment, and other operational factors

At the request of the Veterans Administration, Assessment of Long-Term Health Effects of Antimalarial Drugs When Used for Prophylaxis assesses the scientific evidence regarding the potential for long-term health effects resulting from the use of antimalarial drugs that were approved by FDA or used by U.S. service members for malaria prophylaxis, with a focus on mefloquine, tafenoquine, and other antimalarial drugs that have been used by DoD in the past 25 years. This report offers conclusions based on available evidence regarding associations of persistent or latent adverse events.

Military operations produce a great deal of trash in an environment where standard waste management practices may be subordinated to more pressing concerns. As a result, ground forces have long relied on incineration in open-air pits as a means of getting rid of refuse. Concerns over possible adverse effects of exposure to smoke from trash burning in the theater were first expressed in the wake of the 1990–1991 Gulf War and stimulated a series of studies that indicated that exposures to smoke from oil-well fires and from other combustion sources, including waste burning, were stressors for troops. In January 2013, Congress directed the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) to establish and maintain a registry for service members who may have been exposed to toxic airborne chemicals and fumes generated by open burn pits.

Assessment of the Department of Veterans Affairs Airborne Hazards and Open Burn Pit Registry analyzes the initial months of data collected by the registry and offers recommendations on ways to improve the instrument and best use the information it collects. This report assesses the effectiveness of the VA''s information gathering efforts and provides recommendations for addressing the future medical needs of the affected groups, and provides recommendations on collecting, maintaining, and monitoring information collected by the VA''s Airborne Hazards and Open Burn Pit Registry.

Among the many who serve in the United States Armed Forces and who are deployed to distant locations around the world, myriad health threats are encountered. In addition to those associated with the disruption of their home life and potential for combat, they may face distinctive disease threats that are specific to the locations to which they are deployed. U.S. forces have been deployed many times over the years to areas in which malaria is endemic, including in parts of Afghanistan and Iraq. Department of Defense (DoD) policy requires that antimalarial drugs be issued and regimens adhered to for deployments to malaria-endemic areas. Policies directing which should be used as first and as second-line agents have evolved over time based on new data regarding adverse events or precautions for specific underlying health conditions, areas of deployment, and other operational factors

At the request of the Veterans Administration, Assessment of Long-Term Health Effects of Antimalarial Drugs When Used for Prophylaxis assesses the scientific evidence regarding the potential for long-term health effects resulting from the use of antimalarial drugs that were approved by FDA or used by U.S. service members for malaria prophylaxis, with a focus on mefloquine, tafenoquine, and other antimalarial drugs that have been used by DoD in the past 25 years. This report offers conclusions based on available evidence regarding associations of persistent or latent adverse events.