thedrifter
06-18-07, 06:49 AM
Hearing on Lejeune water revives fears
Jerry Allegood, Staff Writer
Dorothy McKissick has fond memories of the time her family lived at "TT," the residents' nickname for the Tarawa Terrace housing area at Camp Lejeune.
But McKissick, who now lives in Raleigh, was worried by news reports last week that the water her family drank and used for cooking and bathing at TT in the early 1960s was contaminated. She wants to know if toxic water contributed to her daughter's health problems.
"I just don't know about these studies," she said. "How are we ever going to find out?"
McKissick joined a legion of former residents seeking information from the government after a congressional hearing put a new spotlight on an issue that has simmered for more than 20 years. Members of the House Energy and Commerce panel also wanted to know what the Marine Corps and other government agencies had done about the water and its possible health effects.
On Tuesday, the federal Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry told the committee that water at the base contained levels of the dry-cleaning solvent tetrachloroethylene, or PCE, that were 40 times the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's current safe standard of 5 micrograms per liter. The agency estimated that 75,000 former Tarawa Terrace residents living in family housing at the base from 1957 to 1987 may have consumed the water.
The agency's Web site, which had received about 26 visits a month, had received 111,000 visits by early Wednesday, spokesman Charles Green said.
An agency study on possible health effects of the water on young children is due to be completed next year. That study is expected to influence the way the Navy considers claims for damages.
Long-standing problem
Though the disclosure last week was a revelation to many, the issue is old news to others. At least 850 former residents of the base have filed administrative claims, seeking nearly $4 billion, for exposure to the solvent, according to The Associated Press.
Jeff Byron of Hamilton, Ohio, a former Marine who lived at Camp Lejeune from 1982 to 1985, has been fighting the government for years. He blames the toxic water for his daughter's health problems that include an oral cleft birth defect, a spinal disorder and growth problems.
"It's gone into the next generation of children," he said.
Byron, who worked as an air traffic controller, said the Marine Corps has thwarted his efforts to obtain compensation. "They say they take care of their own," he said. "It doesn't apply at the headquarters level."
Camp Lejeune and its water systems began operating in the 1940s as the nation mobilized in Word War II. The sprawling 233-square-mile tract includes training schools for infantry, engineers and service support, as well as a naval hospital and naval dental center. There are schools, day care centers and nine family housing areas where Marines, sailors and their dependents live an average of two years.
The federal General Accountability Office found that efforts to address the drinking water contamination began in the 1980s, when Navy water testing at Camp Lejeune detected what researchers call volatile organic compounds in some base water systems. In 1982 and 1983, continued testing identified two compounds -- PCE and the metal degreaser trichloroethylene, or TCE -- in two water systems.
Birth-defects study
The toxic substances agency contacted 12,598 families as part of its study of birth defects and childhood cancer. That study will determine if babies that were up to 1 year old when exposed to TCE and PCE in Camp Lejeune's water have had increased health problems, such as neural tube defects, oral cleft defects and childhood leukemias and non-Hodgkin's lymphoma.
Green said the study was aimed at those considered most at risk.
Critics say the Marine Corps was slow to shut down wells after contaminants were found in 1980. Some say the Corps later stonewalled and covered up when government agencies began investigations.
The Corps has also come under fire for failing to notify former residents of the water problems. Capt. Amy Malugani, a Marine Corps spokeswoman, said the Corps used records to begin contacting people but has relied extensively on media announcements.
"It's hard to track down individuals one by one," she said.
Malugani stressed that the water on base is safe to drink and has been since 1987. She said the contaminated sources were shut down in early 1985. The Corps was not in violation of water standards for the contaminants, she said, because there were no standards for them at the time.
Medical mystery
Sherry Mullineaux of Tampa, Fla., said she learned of the problems last week after her mother read news reports. She says contaminated water may have contributed to her kidney failure, a condition that has stumped her doctors.
Mullineaux, 48, a self-described military brat who lived at Camp Lejeune in the late 1960s and early 1970s when her father was in the Marines, said she isn't worried about financial compensation. She just wants answers.
"I don't know that it [water] didn't cause it," she said. "Doctors can't explain it; I can't explain it. I want to know why."
Staff writer Jerry Allegood can be reached in Greenville at (252) 752-8411 or jerry.allegood@newsobserver.com.
Ellie
Jerry Allegood, Staff Writer
Dorothy McKissick has fond memories of the time her family lived at "TT," the residents' nickname for the Tarawa Terrace housing area at Camp Lejeune.
But McKissick, who now lives in Raleigh, was worried by news reports last week that the water her family drank and used for cooking and bathing at TT in the early 1960s was contaminated. She wants to know if toxic water contributed to her daughter's health problems.
"I just don't know about these studies," she said. "How are we ever going to find out?"
McKissick joined a legion of former residents seeking information from the government after a congressional hearing put a new spotlight on an issue that has simmered for more than 20 years. Members of the House Energy and Commerce panel also wanted to know what the Marine Corps and other government agencies had done about the water and its possible health effects.
On Tuesday, the federal Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry told the committee that water at the base contained levels of the dry-cleaning solvent tetrachloroethylene, or PCE, that were 40 times the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's current safe standard of 5 micrograms per liter. The agency estimated that 75,000 former Tarawa Terrace residents living in family housing at the base from 1957 to 1987 may have consumed the water.
The agency's Web site, which had received about 26 visits a month, had received 111,000 visits by early Wednesday, spokesman Charles Green said.
An agency study on possible health effects of the water on young children is due to be completed next year. That study is expected to influence the way the Navy considers claims for damages.
Long-standing problem
Though the disclosure last week was a revelation to many, the issue is old news to others. At least 850 former residents of the base have filed administrative claims, seeking nearly $4 billion, for exposure to the solvent, according to The Associated Press.
Jeff Byron of Hamilton, Ohio, a former Marine who lived at Camp Lejeune from 1982 to 1985, has been fighting the government for years. He blames the toxic water for his daughter's health problems that include an oral cleft birth defect, a spinal disorder and growth problems.
"It's gone into the next generation of children," he said.
Byron, who worked as an air traffic controller, said the Marine Corps has thwarted his efforts to obtain compensation. "They say they take care of their own," he said. "It doesn't apply at the headquarters level."
Camp Lejeune and its water systems began operating in the 1940s as the nation mobilized in Word War II. The sprawling 233-square-mile tract includes training schools for infantry, engineers and service support, as well as a naval hospital and naval dental center. There are schools, day care centers and nine family housing areas where Marines, sailors and their dependents live an average of two years.
The federal General Accountability Office found that efforts to address the drinking water contamination began in the 1980s, when Navy water testing at Camp Lejeune detected what researchers call volatile organic compounds in some base water systems. In 1982 and 1983, continued testing identified two compounds -- PCE and the metal degreaser trichloroethylene, or TCE -- in two water systems.
Birth-defects study
The toxic substances agency contacted 12,598 families as part of its study of birth defects and childhood cancer. That study will determine if babies that were up to 1 year old when exposed to TCE and PCE in Camp Lejeune's water have had increased health problems, such as neural tube defects, oral cleft defects and childhood leukemias and non-Hodgkin's lymphoma.
Green said the study was aimed at those considered most at risk.
Critics say the Marine Corps was slow to shut down wells after contaminants were found in 1980. Some say the Corps later stonewalled and covered up when government agencies began investigations.
The Corps has also come under fire for failing to notify former residents of the water problems. Capt. Amy Malugani, a Marine Corps spokeswoman, said the Corps used records to begin contacting people but has relied extensively on media announcements.
"It's hard to track down individuals one by one," she said.
Malugani stressed that the water on base is safe to drink and has been since 1987. She said the contaminated sources were shut down in early 1985. The Corps was not in violation of water standards for the contaminants, she said, because there were no standards for them at the time.
Medical mystery
Sherry Mullineaux of Tampa, Fla., said she learned of the problems last week after her mother read news reports. She says contaminated water may have contributed to her kidney failure, a condition that has stumped her doctors.
Mullineaux, 48, a self-described military brat who lived at Camp Lejeune in the late 1960s and early 1970s when her father was in the Marines, said she isn't worried about financial compensation. She just wants answers.
"I don't know that it [water] didn't cause it," she said. "Doctors can't explain it; I can't explain it. I want to know why."
Staff writer Jerry Allegood can be reached in Greenville at (252) 752-8411 or jerry.allegood@newsobserver.com.
Ellie