Inquiry into health concerns regarding toxic Jet Fuel in ADF...

Weevil · Guru

Inquiry into health concerns regarding toxic Jet Fuel in ADF...

Baz421 · Guru

Yes we have a Facebook page and we started to record our own personal exposure to fuel and other chemicals over the years on a dedicated spreadsheet.

Here's the link for ex RAAFies.

https://www.facebook.com/groups/849420318462590/

Weevil · Guru

Baz421 wrote:
Yes we have a Facebook page and we started to record our own personal exposure to fuel and other chemicals over the years on a dedicated spreadsheet.
Here's the link for ex RAAFies.
https://www.facebook.com/groups/849420318462590/

Well done Baz, and thanks for the link.

Phil C · Guru

Cheers Baz, been on the facebook link and had my bit to say.

When I started work on Macchi aircraft they would welcome the new chums with a avtur shower from the venting tip tanks. Not very pleasant. Refueling those bloody things was not the easiest job on the flight line either. BTW I only ever sat on the wing during refuelling once, I looked so sweet covered in avtur, im glad it wasn't JP4 (filthy stuff).

Cheers

Dougwe · Chief one feather

"I looked so sweat" Yeh sure mate biggrin Never in a million years biggrin he he.

Weevil · Guru

There is a bit more on this transcript interview, see;

Thousands of Defence force personnel exposed to toxic jet fuel

SOURCE: Australian Broadcasting Corporation: http://www.abc.net.au/7.30/content/2015/s4264888.htm

Broadcast: 30/06/2015

Reporter: Dan Oakes and Sam Clark

Defence force personnel are calling for an inquiry into whether Defence ignored warnings that thousands were being exposed to toxic jet fuel.

Defence Force ignored health warnings as thousands of personnel were exposed to toxic jet fuel

Transcript

LEIGH SALES, PRESENTER: For decades, Australian servicemen and women have been exposed to aviation fuels as part of their day-to-day jobs.

Now, there's growing evidence that those fuels are toxic and cause long-term health effects.

Former Army, Navy and Air Force personnel are demanding that Defence look beyond the small group it admits were harmed by the now infamous F-111 Deseal-Reseal project and investigate far more broadly.

Dan Oakes and Sam Clark have the story.

DAN OAKES, REPORTER: So this is this kind of drum you used then, Mick?

MICHAEL CONNOLLY, FORMER SAS SOLDIER: Yeah. This is exactly what we used to use and there were two side-by-side and two mirror image on the other side.

DAN OAKES: Every day Michael Connolly spent training on the firing range as a member of the crack SAS counter-terror unit ended the same way: up to his elbows in aviation fuel.

Did you have any protective gear at all?

MICHAEL CONNOLLY: No, we just used our overalls, similar to this. This is actually a pair that we were issued and that was it. So, no gloves. You'd just roll your sleeves up and get on with it.

DAN OAKES: But just as Connolly and his mates were plunging their arms into the fuel unprotected, their Air Force colleagues were being told to use a full-face respirator, apron and gloves when using jet fuel.

Did it surprise you to find out that around about the same time you were using it for this purpose, the Air Force was advising people not to come into contact with it at all and certainly not to use it for cleaning weapons?

MICHAEL CONNOLLY: Oh, very much so.

DAN OAKES: Mick Connolly was diagnosed with a rare blood cancer in 2007 which causes his body to produce too many red blood cells.

The only treatment is to regularly drain his blood, so today he's making the 140 kilometre round trip to Perth for the procedure.

He also takes medication daily for depression and anxiety.

MICHAEL CONNOLLY: I get soaked from the crutch area right up to the neck. I get breathless even when I speak. For a period there I would get severe headaches that would last for weeks and not go away. And they're just some of the things, yeah.

DAN OAKES: Michael Connolly's condition has been linked in scientific studies to benzene exposure. It's a component of jet fuel used by the Australian Defence Force for decades.

Connolly says he is speaking up because he wants Defence to acknowledge that personnel were exposed to harm by jet fuel.

PETER JACKSON, FORMER RAAF LOADER: Irritable bowel syndrome, diverticulitis, forgetfulness, disturbed sleep patterns, depression, anxiety, vision problems and I was struck with a case of Bell's palsy which I attribute to the benzene and the fuel exposure as well.

DAN OAKES: Peter Jackson served in the Royal Australian Air Force and came into frequent contact with jet fuel.

PETER JACKSON: I was in the movements trade, loading and unloading of military aircraft, C-17s, Hercs, King Airs, that like, and also refuelling aircraft, Hornets, Hercs, C-17s and that as well.

DAN OAKES: In 2012, Jackson was depressed, having trouble sleeping and was racked by headaches. He went to the medical officer.

PETER JACKSON: I tried to bring up the fuel, but I was told by a senior MO that because I wasn't female, I didn't work on the F-11 Reseal-Deseal programs and that I wasn't working in confined space that it didn't have - it wouldn't have had an effect on me.

DAN OAKES: 15 years ago, Defence and the Commonwealth Government were forced to admit that some personnel who'd worked inside F-111 fuel tanks were made sick by their work.

ROBERT HILL, THEN DEFENCE MINISTER (2001): We accept a responsibility to those who may have been detrimentally affected.

DAN OAKES: The Government and Defence insisted that the number of people affected was limited to those who had been exposed to solvents and sealants, not to jet fuel generally.

But in 2006, Dr Sam Bruschi found that jet fuel may also have been a problem. He recommended that workplace safety procedures be urgently examined and a central register be set up to monitor exposure to toxic chemicals.

How crucial is that type of monitoring?

SAM BRUSCHI, TOXICOLOGIST: Well I see it as very crucial in the sense that it's almost a moral obligation that you don't forget about the people that have served you and your country. So, yes, I believe it's important and I would urge the proper structures be set up in order to do so.

DAN OAKES: To date, no such register has been established. But a study released by Defence this year confirmed his concerns. The study found that jet fuel is toxic to the body's cells. The author also recommended further research be done into the health of personnel who have been exposed to fuels of any type. This opens up the possibility that thousands of Defence Force personnel have been exposed to harm as a result of their work with toxic jet fuel.

Kathleen Henry's husband Allen was an aircraft electrician for 20 years. He work at the RAAF's Research and Development Unit and on the now infamous F-11 program. Kathleen also worked on the base.

KATHLEEN HENRY, DEFENCE WIDOW: He was exposed to MEK, or methyl ethyl ketone, trichlorethylene, MIL-SPEC, Techsolve, alodine, aviation gasoline, aviation turpentine and endless numbers of other chemicals that were just used on a day-to-day basis within the service.

DAN OAKES: Allen Henry died in 2008 while battling the Department of Veterans Affairs, which initially refused to acknowledge that his leukaemia was caused by exposure to jet fuel.

18 months after he died, Veterans Affairs finally conceded its mistake.

So, Kathleen, can you explain to me what this document is?

KATHLEEN HENRY: Certainly. This is a letter from the Department of Veterans' Affairs and in it they have made a decision that Allan's acute myeloid leukaemia was caused by his exposure to benzene in aircraft fuels.

DAN OAKES: But the recognition came in 2009, a year and a half too late for Kathleen's husband.

KATHLEEN HENRY: He died heartbroken that he knew the cause, he knew the reason, he wanted to make sure that I would get looked after in the future, and because of that denial, he couldn't be confident that I was going to get help. And he felt like he had completely failed me and the family.

DAN OAKES: Now 7.30 can reveal that two former Army officers made Defence aware of the dangers of aviation fuel starting over 30 years ago.

Mark McKeon was in charge of the Army's Petroleum Operation unit in the early 1990s. He was sent to the UK to do the petroleum officer's course and said the British soldiers were shocked when he told them it was common practice for Australian soldiers to climb into fuel tanks to clean them.

MARK MCKEON, FMR ARMY OFFICER, PETROLEUM OPERATIONS: They were very specific. They were specific of the fact that the carcinogens in fuel, particularly aviation fuel, made it absolutely risky to get inside a tank and expose because you can't suit people up with the correct cleaning equipment and that was certainly their view.

DAN OAKES: McKeon says he returned to Australia and urged his bosses to change practices, but he was ignored.

MARK MCKEON: I pleaded my case, but in the ethos of the Army, once you plead your case and you're told to go and do what you have to do, you go back and you do your job. So, I went and did as I was told to do and I started climbing into tanks and cleaning them as well. So I exposed myself knowing full well that we have long - potential long-term risks.

DAN OAKES: Mark McKeon's warning to Defence about exposing soldiers to jet fuel wasn't the first. 15 years earlier, Army officer Bob Nay had completed the same petroleum course in the United Kingdom. He too raised concerns, but when he moved on, they were soon forgotten.

BOB NEY, FMR ARMY OFFICER, PETROLEUM OPERATIONS: I was - put it in simple terms, I was flabbergasted because here were these people being trained for 18 months coming back to Australia and basically a lot of this information wasn't being passed on.

DAN OAKES: Defence acknowledged less than optimal work practices with fuel may have affected personnel beyond those that worked on the F-111s, but said that safety had now been improved. It refused to commit to investigating the effects of exposure on the thousands of current and former personnel who worked with jet fuel, saying it was waiting for the results of further research.

Seven years after her husband Allen lost his battle with leukaemia, Kathleen Henry is still fighting. She says the time has come for Defence to acknowledge the harm caused by jet fuel. For Kathleen and dozens of other veterans and their families, anything less than a full investigation by Defence will be viewed as a betrayal.

KATHLEEN HENRY: We all joined the service to serve this nation, to stand with pride for our country, and if the service that we undertook caused us debilitating harm, then there has to be recompense and the recompense has to come either from the Government or from the industries that have created toxic chemicals without checks and balances.

LEIGH SALES: Dan Oakes and Sam Clarke reporting.

hako · Guru

When I worked at the Oakey base all the drained AVTUR (and there was lots of it) ended up in Fyrside kerosene heaters off base or used as a surface weedkiller. We also used the 20l firefighting foam containers to carry drinking water. The actual foam was considered to be a good fertiliser and some ended up in vege gardens.

Weevil · Guru

An update on this topic;

http://www.abc.net.au/news/2015-07-14/defence-actively-considering-jet-fuel-review/6617876