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Last updated on Thursday, December 4, 2008
(UNDATED) - A defense contractor holding a lucrative, no-bid contract in Iraq—is being sued in federal court in Indianapolis by 16 Indiana National Guard members.
The members claim the company knowingly left them exposed to a dangerous cancer-causing chemical. Their suit asks for unspecified damages.
The solders--from a unit based in Tell City--were assigned to guard a water plant in southern Iraq shortly after the invasion in 2003. They say the company from Houston, KBR, knew the plant was contaminated with a known carcinogen--sodium dichromate--and gave no warning to the soldiers or civilian employees.
The allegation was the subject of congressional hearings last summer.
Sodium dichromate contains a substance called hexavalent chromium. That's the chemical which was the focal point of the movie "Erin Brokovich"--which was based on real-life events.
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