Iraq veterans seek compensation after chemical exposure

Posted 10/06/2010

Seven former servicemen are seeking personal injury compensation from a US company amid claims that it exposed them to a dangerous chemical unnecessarily.

The soldiers were serving in Iraq in 2003 when they noticed bags of an orange powder around their camp, according to BBC News.

Only when they had been there several months did signs go up warning them it was sodium dichromate and that they should stay away.

US defence firm Kellog Brown and Root (KBR) is now facing legal action from the seven Britons, who allege that it did not protect them from the toxic chemical and played down the risks it posed.

They also claim to have suffered health problems including breathing difficulties and skin complaints from their exposure and fear they may develop cancer in the future.

Andy Tosh, one of the affected men, said: “If I’d have known what I now know, I would not have gone on that site and I would not have made my men operate on that site.”

KBR has denied the allegations and said it was cleaning up the sodium dichromate left there by Saddam Hussein’s regime.

A known carcinogen, sodium dichromate was the toxic substance campaigned against by Erin Brockovich.