"US Health Agency To Take 'Fresh Look' at Vieques"

"SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico -- A U.S. agency has overturned its 2003 research that said no health hazards were caused by decades of military exercises on Vieques, a bombing range-turned-tourist destination off Puerto Rico's east coast.

The federal Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry said Friday it intends to 'modify' some of its earlier research on Vieques, where the U.S. and its allies trained for conflicts from Vietnam to Iraq.

The agency, a part of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, used its own studies to conclude in 2003 that there was essentially no health risk from the bombing range - a conclusion widely criticized by academics and residents on the 18-mile-long island of less than 10,000 people."

David Mcfadden reports for the Associated Press Novembeer 14, 2009.