Higher cancer rates found in military pilots, ground crews

fholbert

Mod's - Please don't edit my posts!
A Pentagon study has found high rates of cancer among military pilots and for the first time has shown that ground crews who fuel, maintain and launch those aircraft are also getting sick.

The data had long been sought by retired military aviators who have raised alarms for years about the number of air and ground crew members they knew who had cancer. They were told that earlier military studies had found they were not at greater risk than the general U.S. population.

 
Let me put on my shocked face.

You have any idea how much food I ate with MIL-H-83282, JP-5 or -8 or -8+, MIL-L-23699, B-1/4, B-1/2, or TKS on it? You never can get all that stuff off your hands no matter how much you wash them.

It's a wonder I don't already have stomach cancer.
 
Let me put on my shocked face.

You have any idea how much food I ate with MIL-H-83282, JP-5 or -8 or -8+, MIL-L-23699, B-1/4, B-1/2, or TKS on it? You never can get all that stuff off your hands no matter how much you wash them.

It's a wonder I don't already have stomach cancer.

When I was an auto tech I always operated on the principal that if it doesn’t rub off on my pants it won’t rub off on my food
 
Let me put on my shocked face.

You have any idea how much food I ate with MIL-H-83282, JP-5 or -8 or -8+, MIL-L-23699, B-1/4, B-1/2, or TKS on it? You never can get all that stuff off your hands no matter how much you wash them.

It's a wonder I don't already have stomach cancer.

Zinc Chromate primer is nasty stuff. My lungs hated it, any time I sprayed some I spent the rest of the day coughing.
 
"Your injury is not service related."
I remember the sad case of a former military guy who was working at Area 51. He had some nasty and weird ailments / cancer; he tried to sue so did his widow to no avail. He claimed that his exposure to chemicals and paints used on stealth planes caused his disease. The lawyers didn't go far since they couldn't even find out the name of the agencies he "allegedly" worked for "they just didn't exist !".
I forgot the name of the bill that the Clinton "no pun intended BILL :biggrin: " administration renewed that gives total secrecy and total exoneration from any liability for the military and those secret agencies / contractors. They are not bound by any environmental laws, or EPA restriction and are exempt from any disclosures.
He never got a penny, the poor lad suffered atrociously before passing away.
 
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Back in the day for crash/rescue firefighting training, we didn’t have the propane powered fire trainers that exist today. In the old days, we’d have a burn pit with an old real aircraft in it. The pit would be filled with water, topped with used diesel fuel and used jet fuel, that was topped with avgas. And any shops on base that had to dispose of HAZMAT such as MEK or solvents or such, could go dump them in the pit. Old tires were thrown in for the smoke they would create. All this would be ignited and we would let it burn before moving in to fight the fire. These burn pits had great radiant heat for training purposes and some dense smoke to make rescue training challenging. But they weren’t environmentally friendly in any way, shape for form…..for humans, or for anything else.

Of course, now the AFFF foam we used to put out these fires….foam that I’ve been soaked in, swallowed, etc…is as toxic as the crap we were burning and having to put out. But, the USAF knew this since 1979, just didn’t say anything.
 
You're not supposed to drink the AFFF Mike......I thought you were AF, not USMC.....I'll keep my tide pods and crayons a little more tightly held next time we meet up :)

Seriously though, can you imagine the actual number of folks that have absorbed some crap they wouldn't have, had it not been for Uncle Sam? My barber growing up, had been in the navy in the 1950s/60s. He was on one of those boats during the bikini tests. Fortunately, last I saw him, he was a pretty healthy 70 something, aside from the half leg he lost during a logging accident in an interim career. I imagine he has passed by now, hopefully due to natural causes
 
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You're not supposed to drink the AFFF Mike......I thought you were AF, not USMC.....I'll keep my tide pods and crayons a little more tightly held next time we meet up :)

Seriously though, can you imagine the actual number of folks that have absorbed some crap they wouldn't have, had it not been for Uncle Sam? My barber growing up, had been in the navy in the 1950s/60s. He was on one of those boats during the bikini tests. Fortunately, last I saw him, he was a pretty healthy 70 something, aside from the half leg he lost during a logging accident in an interim career. I imagine he has passed by now, hopefully due to natural causes
If I make 80 I'm calling it a win.
 
I wonder how much of those ALPA life expectancy tables can be attributed to prior military service rather than flying schedules.

Just curious. I have no idea.
 
Honestly local governments can be as bad as the Mil or federal. When I lived in Florida, it wasn’t uncommon to get a notice that their drinking water failed for ecoli and other contaminants and you should boil your water. We’d get these notices 2-3 months after the test results were received. I drank bottled water only.
 
A Pentagon study has found high rates of cancer among military pilots and for the first time has shown that ground crews who fuel, maintain and launch those aircraft are also getting sick.

The data had long been sought by retired military aviators who have raised alarms for years about the number of air and ground crew members they knew who had cancer. They were told that earlier military studies had found they were not at greater risk than the general U.S. population.

Shocking!

Round up the usual suspects!

Seriously, I'm shocked! Shocked! ...about all the stuff that was blatantly, obviously going on right in front of my eyeballs that I completely, willfully ignored while it was happening.

But, now, after some johnny-come-lately "fake news" nugget reports all that stuff (again, years later)... I'm more than indignant!
 
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Shocking!

Round up the usual suspects!

Seriously, I'm shocked! Shocked! ...about all the stuff that was blatantly, obviously going on right in front of my eyeballs that I completely, willfully ignored while it was happening.

But, now, after some johnny-come-lately "fake news" nugget reports all that stuff (again, years later)... I'm more than indignant!

What were you going for on this post?


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