By Patty Nieberg | Published Dec 19, 2023 7:17 PM ESTA defense...

By Patty Nieberg | Published Dec 19, 2023 7:17 PM EST

A defense contractor may have rigged test results on how bug repellent Army Combat Uniforms were, officials say, leaving soldiers in insect-heavy places vulnerable to illnesses like the Zika virus and Lyme disease.

A federal complaint filed by the Department of Justice on Friday alleges that North Carolina-based Insect Shield LLC and its founder, Richard Lane, who died in 2022, incorrectly tested uniforms for insect-repellent and falsified documents beginning in 2015 under federal contracts worth more than $63 million.

The DOJ alleges that the company and Lane participated in a “multi-year failure” to apply permethrin to Army Combat Uniforms and Improved Hot Weather Combat Uniforms at the correct concentration levels. They also allege that the company submitted inaccurate lab test results to the government for the contracted garments.

The DOJ alleges that the company’s conduct included more than 430 “lots” of Army Combat Uniforms, which may have affected millions of soldiers over the years.

Emails and calls from Task & Purpose to Insect Shield’s lawyers seeking comment on the lawsuit were not returned.

Between 2015 and 2021, Insect Shield held at least 49 contracts to spray uniforms from various manufacturers, according to court documents. Between 2013 and 2019, Bluewater Defense, Inc. committed to supplying the DLA with an estimated 880,000 trousers each year, sprayed with permethrin by Insect Shield, according to contract documents. Another DLA contract with Pentaq Manufacturing, Corp. shows a commitment to produce around 232,000 coats treated with permethrin each year.

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