KBR May Have Poisoned 100,000 People In Iraq

Summary

November 9, 2009: KBR, a former subsidiary of Halliburton, is being sued. The lawsuit alleges that by incinerating carcinogenic toxic waste in open-air "burn pits" in Iraq, KBR may have poisoned upwards of a 100,000 people.

Items burned (according to the lawsuit) include:

• biohazard materials
  • animal carcasses
  • human corpses
  • medical supplies
  • items used in smallpox inoculations
• dangerous chemicals
  • asbestos insulation
  • lithium batteries
  • paints
  • items containing pesticides
  • polyvinyl chloride pipes
  • solvents
  • tires
  • hundreds of thousands of plastic water bottles.

Source

Bibliography

1. Original Article

Game and Story Use

• This gives an example of how not every threat in a war zone appears on the battlefield.
  • For another idea of chemical dangers posed to troops and civilians in or near a war, see Agent Orange.
  • As if there wasn't enough danger and disaster in Iraq at the moment, now you've got non-battlefield poison smoke and the risk of cancer to worry about as well. A very dangerous place for a campaign just got even scarier.
• In a cyberpunk setting, a megacorp would go to any lengths to keep something like this quiet. The PCs could be hired to uncover, or bury, such an incident.