sonofagunney
09-16-05, 11:21 PM
Feds, scientists differ on role for community in Lejeune water study
September 07,2005
BY CHRIS MAZZOLINI
DAILY NEWS STAFF
The federal agency researching past water contamination aboard Camp Lejeune wants to form a community panel for further advice - a plan some consider a step in reserve.
The Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry proposed creating the five-member panel in its Aug. 26 report - it's a response to a June report compiled by scientists tasked with examining the feasibility of performing more studies on those who may have been affected between 1968 and 1985. During those years, dry cleaning chemicals from sites on and off Camp Lejeune leaked into the base water supply. The chemicals are suspected of causing numerous birth defects and other ailments to children born to parents stationed there at the time.
The affected wells were later capped. They pose no threat to current base residents.
The scientists, who met in Atlanta in February, recommended that ATSDR work in "full participation" with the affected community, possibly forming a paid staff of community members.
Instead, ATSDR proposed a community assistance panel (CAP), which they have used in similar cases.
"A CAP does not oversee ATSDR's activities," the Aug. 26 report reads, "but its recommendations are carefully considered by the agency and made available to the public."
Those who may have been affected by chemicals can fill the panel positions. Also eligible are other "interested stakeholders," including local government and business leaders. The CAP must also have access to at least one scientist with "appropriate expertise." It would also include representatives from the Navy.
Panel members will decide where and when the group meets, expected to be sometime in early 2006. ATSDR will be responsible for running it.
Messages left with the agency were not immediately returned, so it's presently unclear how the panel will be formed.
Terry Dyer, a Wilmington resident who has suffered a number of maladies she blames on bad water at Camp Lejeune, said ATSDR is stalling future studies on adults and children who also may have been exposed. She lived in Tarawa Terrance from the late 1950s until the 1970s.
Current studies involve only those children who were in the womb during the affected period.
"When we went to Atlanta, our preconceived notion was that we would be getting a direct response," said Dyer, whose group, The Stand, has been fighting for more studies for five years. "We made it perfectly clear that what we were asking for was future studies of children and adults living out there. That was the main purpose of the meeting. There was no direct response whether or not they are going to study children and adults (who lived or worked on base)."
Dr. Richard Maas, a member of the expert panel who works at the Environmental Quality Institute at the University of North Carolina at Asheville, said he had a mixed reaction to ATSDR's response.
"It could have been better, it could have been worse," he said. "Overall, I thought that they responded at least within an acceptable range to our recommendations."
Maas said forming a community panel was a good step as was the agency's response to move forward while the current epidemiological study - scheduled to be ready before the end of 2007 - is being finished. He also approves of its mentioning cancer incidences and mortality as the most feasible items to study.
Maas disagreed with them not revising the 1997 Public Health Assessment, which said exposure to these chemicals did not pose a substantial cancer risk.
"All of us on the committee felt like it had some sweeping statements in it that dismissed what we perceived as a substantial cancer risk," he said. "(ATSDR's) rationale is: 'We'll do a new study instead of amending the old one.' In the meantime, that 1997 report is still out saying there is no significant cancer risk. And our initial assessment is there probably is a substantial cancer risk."
Maas also didn't like the fact ATSDR did not want to include people born before 1968 because they said it would be difficult to track down birth records.
"That seems like a pretty weak reason not to do the investigation that this particular situation deserves," he said. "I was born before 1968. I don't think it would be that hard to find my birth record."
Overall, Maas said his research into the Camp Lejeune contamination proves that the situation should top the list for both ATSDR and Capitol Hill.
"Having now extensively reviewed this situation, I believe that this water contamination at Camp Lejeune represents one of the worst public groundwater exposure situations that this country has ever seen," Maas said. "In my extensive experience, I have yet to see another groundwater contamination site which has affected so many people for so long. For this reason, I think ATSDR should be giving this site much higher priority than other Superfund groundwater contamination sites.
"As a panel member, I left feeling that additional studies were important and appropriate but that the biggest need for the victims of this chemical contamination is to have a federal bill passed which provides health-care compensation," he added. "I'm disappointed that since February there has been no attempt, especially by (state) Senate or House representatives, to initiate such action."
Dyer agreed. She hopes a late September trip to Washington to meet with a number of congressional representatives - including Sen. Richard Burr, R-N.C., and national political stars such as Sen. John McCain from Arizona, R-Ariz., and Barack Obama, D-Ill. - will move things forward.
They're also waiting to hear whether they can meet with Gen. Michael W. Hagee, the commandant of the Marine Corps.
Ultimately, Dyer hopes for congressional or DoD funds to cover further studies at a major university or teaching hospital.
"I don't have the faith in (ATSDR) that I wish I did," Dyer said. "Why not take those funds and give them to someone that has done this, who will get it done in a timely fashion, who has the resources and the staff, and get this done.
"There are victims that are running out of time. They want answers and they want help. To keep putting us off by saying lets form another committee is ridiculous."
September 07,2005
BY CHRIS MAZZOLINI
DAILY NEWS STAFF
The federal agency researching past water contamination aboard Camp Lejeune wants to form a community panel for further advice - a plan some consider a step in reserve.
The Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry proposed creating the five-member panel in its Aug. 26 report - it's a response to a June report compiled by scientists tasked with examining the feasibility of performing more studies on those who may have been affected between 1968 and 1985. During those years, dry cleaning chemicals from sites on and off Camp Lejeune leaked into the base water supply. The chemicals are suspected of causing numerous birth defects and other ailments to children born to parents stationed there at the time.
The affected wells were later capped. They pose no threat to current base residents.
The scientists, who met in Atlanta in February, recommended that ATSDR work in "full participation" with the affected community, possibly forming a paid staff of community members.
Instead, ATSDR proposed a community assistance panel (CAP), which they have used in similar cases.
"A CAP does not oversee ATSDR's activities," the Aug. 26 report reads, "but its recommendations are carefully considered by the agency and made available to the public."
Those who may have been affected by chemicals can fill the panel positions. Also eligible are other "interested stakeholders," including local government and business leaders. The CAP must also have access to at least one scientist with "appropriate expertise." It would also include representatives from the Navy.
Panel members will decide where and when the group meets, expected to be sometime in early 2006. ATSDR will be responsible for running it.
Messages left with the agency were not immediately returned, so it's presently unclear how the panel will be formed.
Terry Dyer, a Wilmington resident who has suffered a number of maladies she blames on bad water at Camp Lejeune, said ATSDR is stalling future studies on adults and children who also may have been exposed. She lived in Tarawa Terrance from the late 1950s until the 1970s.
Current studies involve only those children who were in the womb during the affected period.
"When we went to Atlanta, our preconceived notion was that we would be getting a direct response," said Dyer, whose group, The Stand, has been fighting for more studies for five years. "We made it perfectly clear that what we were asking for was future studies of children and adults living out there. That was the main purpose of the meeting. There was no direct response whether or not they are going to study children and adults (who lived or worked on base)."
Dr. Richard Maas, a member of the expert panel who works at the Environmental Quality Institute at the University of North Carolina at Asheville, said he had a mixed reaction to ATSDR's response.
"It could have been better, it could have been worse," he said. "Overall, I thought that they responded at least within an acceptable range to our recommendations."
Maas said forming a community panel was a good step as was the agency's response to move forward while the current epidemiological study - scheduled to be ready before the end of 2007 - is being finished. He also approves of its mentioning cancer incidences and mortality as the most feasible items to study.
Maas disagreed with them not revising the 1997 Public Health Assessment, which said exposure to these chemicals did not pose a substantial cancer risk.
"All of us on the committee felt like it had some sweeping statements in it that dismissed what we perceived as a substantial cancer risk," he said. "(ATSDR's) rationale is: 'We'll do a new study instead of amending the old one.' In the meantime, that 1997 report is still out saying there is no significant cancer risk. And our initial assessment is there probably is a substantial cancer risk."
Maas also didn't like the fact ATSDR did not want to include people born before 1968 because they said it would be difficult to track down birth records.
"That seems like a pretty weak reason not to do the investigation that this particular situation deserves," he said. "I was born before 1968. I don't think it would be that hard to find my birth record."
Overall, Maas said his research into the Camp Lejeune contamination proves that the situation should top the list for both ATSDR and Capitol Hill.
"Having now extensively reviewed this situation, I believe that this water contamination at Camp Lejeune represents one of the worst public groundwater exposure situations that this country has ever seen," Maas said. "In my extensive experience, I have yet to see another groundwater contamination site which has affected so many people for so long. For this reason, I think ATSDR should be giving this site much higher priority than other Superfund groundwater contamination sites.
"As a panel member, I left feeling that additional studies were important and appropriate but that the biggest need for the victims of this chemical contamination is to have a federal bill passed which provides health-care compensation," he added. "I'm disappointed that since February there has been no attempt, especially by (state) Senate or House representatives, to initiate such action."
Dyer agreed. She hopes a late September trip to Washington to meet with a number of congressional representatives - including Sen. Richard Burr, R-N.C., and national political stars such as Sen. John McCain from Arizona, R-Ariz., and Barack Obama, D-Ill. - will move things forward.
They're also waiting to hear whether they can meet with Gen. Michael W. Hagee, the commandant of the Marine Corps.
Ultimately, Dyer hopes for congressional or DoD funds to cover further studies at a major university or teaching hospital.
"I don't have the faith in (ATSDR) that I wish I did," Dyer said. "Why not take those funds and give them to someone that has done this, who will get it done in a timely fashion, who has the resources and the staff, and get this done.
"There are victims that are running out of time. They want answers and they want help. To keep putting us off by saying lets form another committee is ridiculous."