Veterans-For-Change
11901 Samuel Drive
Garden Grove, California 92840

MEDIA RELEASE

Written by: Robert O’Dowd                     
Date: October 30, 2009
Contact: Jim Davis, President – Veterans for Change – Jdavis92840@sbcglobal.net

Congress Urges Navy to Assist Lejeune Veterans & Dependents Now

A letter of October 26st from twenty-eight Congressman 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 Congressional letter noted that the Navy failed to develop a strategy to “provide for those who have suffered from the effects of exposure to drinking” contaminated water. 

The water from Camp Lejeune’s 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. Those exposed to the contaminated water have suffered 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.

Congressional testimony from the Agency for Toxic Substances Disease Registry in 2006 confirmed 16 children at Lejeune who died from leukemia after drinking the contaminated water.  An unknown number of Marines, Sailors, their dependents, and civilian employees were exposed to the contaminated water.

The Congressman questioned the Navy’s failure to develop a strategy to address the health effects of exposure to the contaminated water, the need for additional studies “in perpetuity” by the Navy, and urged the Navy act now.  

A response is expected from the Secretary of the Navy.

For further information or to arrange an interview,

Contact Jim Davis
Veterans-for-Change
1190 Samuel Drive
Garden Grove, CA 92840
714-983-4919
jdavis92840@sbcglobal.net

Jim Davis
Garden Grove, CA 92840
jdavis92840@sbcglobal.net

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