The Minneapolis headquartered 3M business manufactured the Dual-Ended Combat Arms™ Earplugs which were employed by armed services staff between 2003 to 2015 during fighting and training exercises to protect soldier hearing from gunfire and explosions. Hearing problems are one of the most common issues suffered by soldiers so hearing protection is a major worry for American soldiers. Based on combat earplugs , the 3M Dual-Ended Combat Arms™ Earplugs were designed to offer two different levels of defense. The dual-ended plugs have a design that is easily recognizable. As their name suggests, they were made of of two outward facing earplugs, one green and one yellow.
While the yellow part was inserted inside the ear, this is called as Open Fire mode. This mode was created to offer normal hearing for peak situational awareness. It could let soldiers to communicate, accept commands and listen to other important sounds in the combat field whilst still providing protection from top level sounds like gunfire and explosions. This could have been the desired scenario in combat situations.
When the green part was inserted inside the ear, this was known as Closed Protection mode. Constant Protection was created to stop all noise more thoroughly in order to offer complete protection. According to 3M, this mode is for high-level sustained noise scenarios such as those in tracked vehicles and air support. This level might have also been used in several standard training exercises and environments as well. Alleged Hearing Risks Combat Arms EarplugsManufactured by 3M and its predecessor, Aearo Technologies, Inc, Dual Ended Combat Arms Earplugs, Version 2 (CAEv2) that were created for military use and used widely by thousands of personnel deployed to Afghanistan and Iraq from 2003 to 2015. The CAEV2 was produced to let two separate protection settings, Weapons Fire mode and Constant Protection mode. The appropriate level is determined by which side of the earplug is placed inside the ear, yellow means Weapons Fire mode, green means Constant Protection mode. Weapons Fire mode was created to allow for hearing speaking and communicating while still protecting from damaging noise levels from gunfire and explosions. The Constant Protection level blocked all noise more fully that was useful for soldiers operating in track vehicles, in air support or during regular training. Each settings were purported to block noise up to a certain level but in recent litigation, the government has claimed that neither mode of the ear plug met the Noise Reduction Rating (NRR) that 3M claimed because of a non-reported manufacturing flaw.
$9.1 million Settlement Between 3M and the U.S. Government During July of 2018, the United States DOJ announced that 3M had agreed to pay $9.1 million in order to resolve claims that the company knowingly sold the Combat Arms Earplugs v2 to the U.S. military without disclosing errors that hampered the effectiveness of the hearing defense device. The lawsuit was initially filed in 2016 under the whistleblower provision of the False Claims Act which permits private citizens to sue for the federal government when they believe that a defendant has represented incorrect claims for government funds. In this case, the whistleblower was granted $1,911,000 for their part in the lawsuit.
According to the Department of Justice press announcement, the settlement resolved allegations that 3M violated the False Claims Act by selling or causing to be sold defective earplugs to the Defense Logistics Agency. More specifically, the United States alleged that 3M, and its predecessor, Aearo Technologies, Inc., were aware that the CAEv2 was too short for proper insertion into users’ ears and that the plugs might come loose imperceptibly and therefore didn’t work well for some individuals. It was additionally claimed that this design error was known to 3M but was not disclosed to the Department of Defense.
Injuries to Soldiers If the allegations about 3M are true, many personnel might have used error prone earplugs that did not defend them as the product was supposed to. Based on the alleged design flaw, the earplugs could loosen while inside the ear unbeknownst to the soldier letting damaging sounds to make their way into the ear. Dangerous sound levels can have serious and lasting effects which include partial or total hearing loss, or tinnitus, a ringing in the ears. Hearing damage is one of the most frequent issues suffered by active duty and former servicemen. Tinnitus, which might be debilitating, is just as frequent. According to a research scientist with the VA Portland Healthcare System, last year there were in excess of
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