Saturday, October 31, 2009

COngressional Letter from 28 Congressmen Expresses Frustration and Disapointment with Navy's Handling of Camp Lejeune Contaminated Wells

Full Article at: Congress to Navy: Assist Lejeune Veterans & Dependents
Robert O'Dowd Salem-News.com

(WASHINGTON, D.C.) - A letter of October 26st from twenty-eight Congressmen to the Secretary of the Navy expressed frustration and disappointment over the Navy’s failure to provide assistance to Camp Lejeune veterans and dependents affected by the contamination of the base water wells.

The Congressional representatives questioned the Navy’s failure to develop a strategy to address the health effects of exposure to contaminated drinking water.

Camp Lejeune’s drinking water was contaminated with organic solvents and other chemicals between the years 1958 and 1987.

Thousands of Marines, Sailors, their families and civilian employees drank water that was contaminated with known or suspected human carcinogens.

The water provided by the Tarawa Terrace and Hadnot Point distribution systems was highly contaminated with various chemicals, including the VOCs (volatile organic compounds) known as PCE (Tetrachloroethylene aka Perchloroethylene), TCE (Trichloroethylene), DCE (Dichloroethylene), Vinyl Chloride and BTEX (Benzene, Toluene, Ethylbenzene, and Xylene).

These chemicals are either known or suspected human carcinogens. Many Marines, Sailors, their families and loyal civilian employees have been affected by the contamination in various ways including, but not limited to: liver cancer, kidney cancer, breast cancer, bladder cancer, ovarian cancer, prostate cancer, cervical cancer, lung cancer, leukemia, non Hodgkins lymphoma, liver disease, miscarriages, birth defects (cleft palate, heart defects, Choanal atresia, neural tube defects, low birth weight, and small for gestational age),etc. Unfortunately, many of these families still have not been notified by the USMC of the danger from their exposure."