美国国家公共电台 NPR--Iraqis have been exposed to the effects of burn pits for more than 10 years

Iraqis have been exposed to the effects of burn pits for more than 10 years

Transcript¹

NPR's Leila Fadel speaks with Kali Rubaii, an assistant professor at Purdue University, about the impact of U.S. military burn pits in Iraq on Iraqi civilians³.

LEILA FADEL, HOST:

If you've heard American veterans celebrating one thing about the PACT² Act, which President Biden will sign into law this week, it probably has to do with burn pits. These were massive piles of uniforms, equipment, computers and other things the U.S. military incinerated to prevent them from falling into the hands of the wrong people. American veterans, including those who served in Iraq and Afghanistan, will be able to access VA support for a variety of medical problems they likely suffered because of their exposure to burn pits. But soldiers are not the only people still struggling with their damaging effects. Kali Rubaii studies the toxic⁴ legacies⁵ of the U.S. war in Iraq. She's an assistant professor of anthropology⁶ at Purdue University.

KALI RUBAII: Veterans saw acute short-term exposure, and they were at peak health. Iraqi people were in all stages of their life course when they were exposed to burn pits, and they were exposed for over 10 years. Even those who live at a distance and downwind face a lot of health effects, and they're varied⁷. Farmers who live downwind noticed a lot of birth defects and fertility issues with their crops and their livestock⁸. And then children report symptoms of, you know, dizziness, balance problems. There have been many cases of brain cancer near and around burn pits. The issue that I'm most focused on is intergenerational damage. And the incidence of birth defects in Iraq may be linked to burn pits and other detritus⁹ of war.

FADEL: So you've been documenting intergenerational impacts on people in Iraq. What are you finding? Fallujah's a place that's seen several U.S. offensives. I used to speak to families who didn't lose their house once but twice, maybe three times - lost family members. So...

RUBAII: Yeah. So in one way, burn pits are the least of the violence done to Iraqi people. For example, in 2004, 74% of Fallujah was leveled. I mean, what does that actually mean? That means no water, no electricity, no hospital - massive injury and death, lots of pollution released into the air. So in Fallujah today, the long-standing effects of that level of bombardment are there is still only a few hours of electricity. My tap water, living there, is brown. It's undrinkable. The hospitals still lack essential equipment.

So it's in the wake of all of this destruction that doctors like Dr. Samira Alani, who's a pediatrician at Fallujah Hospital, started noticing, around 2004, all of these babies that were born with birth defects. And they started cataloging it because it just was anecdotally noteworthy that there were more and more. And the tragedy here is that it's unclear what the cause is, but it definitely indicates there's an environmental factor. And people notice that the timeline indicates something about U.S. occupation.

FADEL: You know, I think so often when the damage of war is discussed, we think of it in immediate¹⁰ killings¹¹, right? But that long-term impact, the environmental impact, is something that isn't as much discussed. If you could just talk about the way your research looks at the damage of war when it comes to environment.

RUBAII: I think that it's very clear, of course, American soldiers were exposed to way more than just burn pits, right? Every time there was a sandstorm, all of that heavy metal material from the 1990s was picked up into the wind, and everyone was breathing that. One of the common problems that people face is that during sandstorms, the air quality is very poor, and every single microparticle that can be picked up into the wind is entering people's lungs, lining¹² your teeth, and it's everywhere. And this is a climate change issue, of course. We have more and more sandstorms and dust storms in Iraq. And the more war detritus that is lying around, the more people are inhaling¹³ war. They're inhaling the past of war.

FADEL: Wow.

RUBAII: And similarly, Iraq has two major rivers - the Tigris and Euphrates. And everything that's farmed inside of Iraq is irrigated¹⁴ from those rivers. But those rivers are also the place where waste is dumped. But then, of course, that water is getting irrigated into farmland, and people are eating whatever the plants take up.

FADEL: Yeah.

RUBAII: And so the detritus of war isn't just lying on the ground and aerosolized, it's also entering people's bodies and the ecosystem¹⁵.

FADEL: You've been in and out of Fallujah for your research. Can you speak about specific families that you've met and the impact that war has had on their lives?

RUBAII: I had to watch a child die a few months ago. She was just this dynamic, inquisitive¹⁶ baby who was born in Fallujah with multiple congenital anomalies. Some of her organs were outside of her body. She had a gap in her heart. She lived for about a week. She made really deep eye contact with everyone, and she was really fighting for her life. The cause of her birth defects were likely environmental and linked with burn pits. But the cause of her death was the destroyed hospital infrastructure¹⁷. Had she been in a place where the hospital hadn't been bombed several times, it's possible that she would have survived her birth defects. And I think maybe one of the toughest legacies in Iraq is that environmental damage to people's bodies doesn't have to be fatal if there is also infrastructure to contend with it.

A woman I met had lived right next to a burn pit near the Balad Air Base. And she had a child in 2017 with anencephaly, and it died immediately. And then she had another child who had spina bifida and hydrocephaly, and it was born dead. So she kept conceiving children. So the doctor said, look, you've been living near a burn pit. You can't have more children. But she was really determined¹⁸ to have another baby. She had three more miscarriages¹⁹ and two more stillbirths.

FADEL: Oh, my God.

RUBAII: And she is still trying to have a child. But her determination to make a new generation of life in the wake of all of the destruction she had witnessed in the decades before - it's an indicator²⁰ of this incredible will to survive and recover and why I feel that now that the PACT Act has been passed, it would be up to U.S. health justice organizers to reach out to Iraqi people who are managing incredible burdens and who would be very keen to engage in a joint²¹ struggle for extending the kind of imperative²² care that's available to veterans now to the Iraqi people who've been living in the wake of these burn pits.

FADEL: Kali Rubaii is an assistant professor of anthropology at Purdue University. Her work focuses on the toxic legacy²³ of war in Iraq. Thank you so much.

RUBAII: Thank you.

(SOUNDBITE OF AIR'S "LOST MESSAGE")

1 transcript   

n.抄本，誊本，副本，肄业证书

参考例句：

• A transcript of the tapes was presented as evidence in court.一份录音带的文字本作为证据被呈交法庭。
• They wouldn't let me have a transcript of the interview.他们拒绝给我一份采访的文字整理稿。

2 pact   

n.合同，条约，公约，协定

参考例句：

• The two opposition parties made an electoral pact.那两个反对党订了一个有关选举的协定。
• The trade pact between those two countries came to an end.那两国的通商协定宣告结束。

3 civilians   

平民，百姓( civilian的名词复数 )； 老百姓

参考例句：

• the bloody massacre of innocent civilians 对无辜平民的血腥屠杀
• At least 300 civilians are unaccounted for after the bombing raids. 遭轰炸袭击之后，至少有300名平民下落不明。

4 toxic   

adj.有毒的，因中毒引起的

参考例句：

• The factory had accidentally released a quantity of toxic waste into the sea.这家工厂意外泄漏大量有毒废物到海中。
• There is a risk that toxic chemicals might be blasted into the atmosphere.爆炸后有毒化学物质可能会进入大气层。

5 legacies   

n.遗产( legacy的名词复数 )；遗留之物；遗留问题；后遗症

参考例句：

• Books are the legacies that a great genius leaves to mankind. 书是伟大的天才留给人类的精神财富。 来自辞典例句
• General legacies are subject to the same principles as demonstrative legacies. 一般的遗赠要与指定数目的遗赠遵循同样的原则。 来自辞典例句

6 anthropology   

n.人类学

参考例句：

• I believe he has started reading up anthropology.我相信他已开始深入研究人类学。
• Social anthropology is centrally concerned with the diversity of culture.社会人类学主要关于文化多样性。

7 varied   

adj.多样的，多变化的

参考例句：

• The forms of art are many and varied.艺术的形式是多种多样的。
• The hotel has a varied programme of nightly entertainment.宾馆有各种晚间娱乐活动。

8 livestock   

n.家畜，牲畜

参考例句：

• Both men and livestock are flourishing.人畜两旺。
• The heavy rains and flooding killed scores of livestock.暴雨和大水淹死了许多牲口。

9 detritus   

n.碎石

参考例句：

• Detritus usually consists of gravel, sand and clay.岩屑通常是由砂砾，沙和粘土组成的。
• A channel is no sooner cut than it chokes in its own detritus.一个河道刚被切割了不久，很快又被它自己的碎屑物质所充塞。

10 immediate   

adj.立即的；直接的，最接近的；紧靠的

参考例句：

• His immediate neighbours felt it their duty to call.他的近邻认为他们有责任去拜访。
• We declared ourselves for the immediate convocation of the meeting.我们主张立即召开这个会议。

11 killings   

谋杀( killing的名词复数 )； 突然发大财，暴发

参考例句：

• His statement was seen as an allusion to the recent drug-related killings. 他的声明被视为暗指最近与毒品有关的多起凶杀案。
• The government issued a statement condemning the killings. 政府发表声明谴责这些凶杀事件。

12 lining   

n.衬里，衬料

参考例句：

• The lining of my coat is torn.我的外套衬里破了。
• Moss makes an attractive lining to wire baskets.用苔藓垫在铁丝篮里很漂亮。

13 inhaling   

v.吸入( inhale的现在分词 )

参考例句：

• He was treated for the effects of inhaling smoke. 他因吸入烟尘而接受治疗。 来自辞典例句
• The long-term effects of inhaling contaminated air is unknown. 长期吸入被污染空气的影响还无从知晓。 来自互联网

14 irrigated   

[医]冲洗的

参考例句：

• They irrigated their crops with water from this river. 他们用这条小河里的水浇庄稼。
• A crop can be sown, weeded, irrigated, and fertilized uniformly. 一种作物可以均匀一致地进行播种，除草，灌溉和施肥。

15 ecosystem   

n.生态系统

参考例句：

• This destroyed the ecosystem of the island.这样破坏了岛上的生态系统。
• We all have an interest in maintaining the integrity of the ecosystem.维持生态系统的完整是我们共同的利益。

16 inquisitive   

adj.求知欲强的，好奇的，好寻根究底的

参考例句：

• Children are usually inquisitive.小孩通常很好问。
• A pat answer is not going to satisfy an inquisitive audience.陈腔烂调的答案不能满足好奇的听众。

17 infrastructure   

n.下部构造，下部组织，基础结构，基础设施

参考例句：

• We should step up the development of infrastructure for research.加强科学基础设施建设。
• We should strengthen cultural infrastructure and boost various types of popular culture.加强文化基础设施建设，发展各类群众文化。

18 determined   

adj.坚定的；有决心的

参考例句：

• I have determined on going to Tibet after graduation.我已决定毕业后去西藏。
• He determined to view the rooms behind the office.他决定查看一下办公室后面的房间。

19 miscarriages   

流产( miscarriage的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• Miscarriages are usually caused by abnormal chromosome patterns in the fetus. 流产通常是因为胎儿的染色体异常造成的。
• Criminals go unpunishedareconvicted and are miscarriages of justice. 罪犯会逍遥法外，法律会伤及无辜，审判不公时有发生。

20 indicator   

n.指标；指示物，指示者；指示器

参考例句：

• Gold prices are often seen as an indicator of inflation.黃金价格常常被看作是通货膨胀的指标。
• His left-hand indicator is flashing.他左手边的转向灯正在闪亮。

21 joint   

adj.联合的，共同的；n.关节，接合处；v.连接，贴合

参考例句：

• I had a bad fall,which put my shoulder out of joint.我重重地摔了一跤，肩膀脫臼了。
• We wrote a letter in joint names.我们联名写了封信。

22 imperative   

n.命令，需要；规则；祈使语气；adj.强制的；紧急的

参考例句：

• He always speaks in an imperative tone of voice.他老是用命令的口吻讲话。
• The events of the past few days make it imperative for her to act.过去这几天发生的事迫使她不得不立即行动。

23 legacy   

n.遗产，遗赠；先人(或过去)留下的东西

参考例句：

• They are the most precious cultural legacy our forefathers left.它们是我们祖先留下来的最宝贵的文化遗产。
• He thinks the legacy is a gift from the Gods.他认为这笔遗产是天赐之物。