Camp Lejeune Water Update: No Link
For nearly 35 years, Marines, civilian employees, and their family members aboard Camp Lejeune drank, cooked with, and bathed in contaminated water. The contamination came from two chemicals, Trichloroethylene (TCE) and Perchloroethylene (PCE), mostly supplied by Dow Chemical. Water wells in the area were closed after detection of the contamination, but the harm was already done. According to those affected by the contamination, many people have suffered from various forms of cancer and other aliments.
For many years, the Navy and Marine Corps funded studies to determine the extent of the damage done to those that used the contaminated water and the effects on their health. One report, released yesterday, is astonishing.
The study released Saturday is one of two the Navy was awaiting to determine whether exposure to the water could be linked definitively to birth defects, childhood leukemia and adult illnesses such as liver damage and breast cancer.
“On the one hand, several lines of scientific reasoning suggest such effects are unlikely to have occurred … ” the report concludes. “On the other hand, the possibility that health effects have been produced by the contaminant exposures at Camp Lejeune cannot be ruled out.”
The report has basically concluded that the various diseases victims of the contaminated water are not related to the water, but it is still possible.
Over 1,000 people have filed claims with the Navy Jag seeking almost $44 billion dollars, but none has been paid. Additionally, the VA has denied medical benefits for those that believe their illness relates to the contaminated water.
Tim King of Salem-News.com has written an article about the study and hasn’t held back any punches. I wouldn’t have taken such a confrontational stance, but he makes many good points. His article is fairly long and fair use won’t allow me to quote all the parts I would like to. Instead, go read his article.
My personal belief is the contaminated water has beyond a shadow of a doubt made many people horribly ill and killed many others.
According to Wikipedia, “California EPA regulators consider it [TCE] a known carcinogen and issued a risk assessment in 1999 that concluded that it was far more toxic than previous scientific studies had shown.”
Also according to Wikipedia, PCE is dangerous as well.
Results of animal studies, conducted with amounts much higher than those that most people are exposed to, show that tetrachloroethene can cause liver and kidney damage. Exposure to very high levels of tetrachloroethene can be toxic to the unborn pups of pregnant rats and mice. Changes in behavior were observed in the offspring of rats that breathed high levels of the chemical while they were pregnant.
I would like to see the Navy and Marine Corps reevaluate the study released and continue to research the effects the contamination had on the 1 million people that could have been exposed. Too many people have died and become very ill that lived and worked in the Camp Lejeune area from the 1950’s to the 1980’s for there not to be a link.
