From Combustion Emissions to Neurotoxicity: Brain Health Risks of Military Burn Pits Exposure

Authors

• Katherine M. Eggers
• Zoe A. Keller
• Paul Barach, Thomas Jefferson UniversityFollow
• Julie M. Tomáška
• Joshua P. Nixon
• Janeen H. Trembley
• Tammy A. Butterick

Document Type

Article

Publication Date

6-11-2026

Comments

This article is the author’s final published version in Fire, Volume 9, Issue 6, 2026, Article number 249.

The published version is available at https://doi.org/10.3390/fire9060249. Copyright © 2026 by the authors.

Abstract

Military burn pits used during post-9/11 U.S. military deployments functioned as uncontrolled combustion systems and were widely utilized to dispose of large volumes of outdoor waste by burning. Burn pits involved heterogeneous waste materials burned under variable temperature and oxygen conditions. These combustion environments generated complex, toxic, multipollutant airborne emission mixtures that included particulate matter (PM2.5), polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs), and volatile organic compounds (VOCs). This narrative review synthesizes epidemiologic, experimental, and mechanistic evidence linking burn pit emissions to disruption of the lung–brain axis and adverse neurological outcomes. We specifically aim to address a critical gap in understanding how combustion-derived toxicants impact brain health and are associated with unfavorable neuropsychiatric outcomes, including increased risk of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and depression. Combustion-related exposures promote pulmonary inflammation and system-wide immune signaling that propagate to the central nervous system, contributing to neuroinflammation and dysregulation of the hypothalamic–pituitary–adrenal (HPA) axis. These interconnected mechanisms are associated with toxic encephalopathy and related cognitive and mood disturbances, underscoring the need to integrate fire science with military and environmental health services research to better define the systemic and neurological consequences of acute and chronic fire-derived inhalation exposures.

Recommended Citation

Eggers, Katherine M.; Keller, Zoe A.; Barach, Paul; Tomáška, Julie M.; Nixon, Joshua P.; Trembley, Janeen H.; and Butterick, Tammy A., "From Combustion Emissions to Neurotoxicity: Brain Health Risks of Military Burn Pits Exposure" (2026). College of Population Health Faculty Papers. Paper 252.
https://jdc.jefferson.edu/healthpolicyfaculty/252

Creative Commons License

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.

Language

English