INDIANAPOLIS — A bill that would have created an Agent Orange-style registry of Indiana National Guard soldiers exposed to a cancer-causing chemical in Iraq wasn't enacted into law before Congress' pre-election adjournment, but U.S. Sen. Evan Bayh still is seeking answers about the toxic exposure.

Bayh introduced the legislation after the disclosure in June that 139 members of the National Guard's 1st Battalion, 152nd Infantry based in Jasper, Ind., had been exposed to a highly toxic industrial chemical while serving in Iraq. The exposure came as they were guarding a water-treatment plant near Basra, Iraq, in 2003. Despite assurances that the orange, sandlike dust strewn throughout the plant was only a "mild irritant," the substance later was discovered to be sodium dichromate, a known carcinogen. The chemical can cause cancers of the lungs and respiratory tract, according to experts.

Although the toxic exposure happened five years ago, the adjutant general of the Indiana National Guard, Maj. Gen. Martin Umbarger, was only notified of it in June by Sen. Byron Dorgan, a Democrat from North Dakota. Dorgan's Senate committee had held hearings into the actions of private contractor KBR in Iraq. KBR employees who had worked at the Qarmat Ali plant and were sickened by sodium dichromate testified Indiana soldiers had been exposed to it, too, through breathing or skin contact, published reports said.

Bayh requested the secretary of the Army investigate, citing concerns that post-deployment medical tests the soldiers received were not state-of-the-art or could not determine brief exposure to sodium dichromate.

Army Secretary Pete Geren agreed Sept. 22 and launched an investigation that is to conclude by Nov. 22.

Bayh said there is "no good explanation" for why the Army did not notify Umbarger earlier.

"The Army is trying to get to the bottom of that, and I'm waiting for their response; and we'll judge at that time whether it is an adequate response," Bayh, D-Ind., said Wednesday.

Bayh said he sought to add an amendment to the annual defense authorization bill, which deals with military-funding matters. Among other things, his amendment would have created a medical registry of exposed soldiers so that they could receive specialized tests from Veterans Administration facilities. Normally to receive VA treatment, veterans must prove the condition is service-related; but Bayh's legislation would have reversed that presumption for soldiers at risk from the carcinogen. "If you were exposed to it and you come down with signs of cancer, we will presume it was service-related - rather than forcing you to go back years, into a foreign country (where) basically it would be impossible for you to prove it," Bayh said. The proposal also would have required front-line commanders to report toxic exposures of their soldiers to stateside headquarters, he said.

Bayh said his amendment got caught up in parliamentary maneuvering and was "filibustered" before adjournment, but he plans to reintroduce it in the new Congress in 2009.

"It will be the first thing on my agenda," the senator said.

In coming years, any specialized treatment that the at-risk soldiers and veterans receive through the VA "ought to be as convenient as possible and closest to home as possible," Bayh said. "It would be inappropriate to force people to drive hours if they could receive treatment in their own hometown."

The Department of Veterans Affairs plans to open a VA outpatient clinic at Burkhardt Road and Columbia Street in Evansville in 2011. Whether that could be a treatment site for exposed soldiers "is a practical question that will have to be dealt with in a sensible way," Bayh said.

In the meantime, the Indiana National Guard set up a hot line — (800) 237-2850, ext. 3128 — for former soldiers who suspect they were exposed. As many as 660 Indiana Guard soldiers may have been in the vicinity of the contaminated Qarmat Ali treatment facility in 2003, Umbarger said in September; and the Guard is trying to locate them. Some still are in the Guard and currently serving in Iraq; others have been discharged.

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