Alan C. Posted March 15, 2013 Posted March 15, 2013 Researcher alleges VA covered up adverse consequences to toxic exposures A senior epidemiologist for the Department of Veterans Affairs who resigned in December told a congressional committee...that the agency has covered up data showing adverse consequences for veterans who were exposed to toxic materials from burn pits and other environmental hazards in Iraq, Afghanistan and the first Gulf War. Steven S. Coughlin testified that he resigned from the VA’s Office of Public Health in December “because of serious ethical concerns” about the agency’s conduct, which he said included not releasing study results that point to a connection between environmental exposures and illnesses. “On the rare occasions when embarrassing study results are released, data are manipulated to make them unintelligible,” Coughlin said in his testimony to the House Committee on Veterans Affairs’ oversight and Investigations subcommittee. Coughlin said during his work studying the relationship between exposure to burn pits and asthma and bronchitis among Iraq and Afghanistan veterans, his supervisor told him not to look at data regarding hospitalizations and doctors’ visits. “When I advised him I did not want to continue as a co-investigator under these circumstances, he threatened me,” Coughlin said.
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