thedrifter
07-18-07, 06:44 PM
Senator: Notify Marines of toxic tap water
The Associated Press
Posted : Wednesday Jul 18, 2007 18:00:17 EDT
Military officials should directly inform hundreds of thousands of Marine families and workers that they drank and washed in toxin-contaminated water at Camp Lejeune, N.C., Sen. Elizabeth Dole said today.
Dole wants to force the secretary of the Navy to locate and notify Marines and civilians who were exposed to the water up until the mid-1980s, when the base shut down contaminated wells.
The notification requirement was in an amendment she offered today to a broad military money bill before the legislation was pulled from the floor in a showdown over Iraq. The larger bill may be back as soon as September.
Government health officials have estimated as many as 1 million people may have been exposed during three decades of water contamination going back to 1957. The numbers include Marines in barracks and military families living on the sprawling Atlantic training and deployment base, as well as civilians who worked there.
“We cannot correct a past mistake by pretending that this contamination did not take place, and we cannot avoid the hard and unpleasant facts associated with this tragic situation,” said Dole, R-N.C.
Her measure also aims to help answer questions about health effects by having those exposed give government health investigators information on their illnesses.
The groundwater contamination stemmed from industrial activity and hazardous waste on the base and from a neighboring dry cleaner. Trichloroethylene and tetrachloroethylene, solvents used for de-greasing and dry cleaning, and other toxic chemicals were identified in water sampling that eventually led to the well closures.
Studies have linked the chemicals to leukemia, non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma, birth defects and several other cancers.
Dole’s amendment differs from an earlier measure that allows the military to reach out through the media rather than directly notifying those exposed, and requires notification only after completion of a government health study.
Dole’s new measure would require notification to begin shortly after the bill’s passage.
“Enough is enough,” Dole said. “Our Marines and their families must be notified of what has happened.”
Ellie
The Associated Press
Posted : Wednesday Jul 18, 2007 18:00:17 EDT
Military officials should directly inform hundreds of thousands of Marine families and workers that they drank and washed in toxin-contaminated water at Camp Lejeune, N.C., Sen. Elizabeth Dole said today.
Dole wants to force the secretary of the Navy to locate and notify Marines and civilians who were exposed to the water up until the mid-1980s, when the base shut down contaminated wells.
The notification requirement was in an amendment she offered today to a broad military money bill before the legislation was pulled from the floor in a showdown over Iraq. The larger bill may be back as soon as September.
Government health officials have estimated as many as 1 million people may have been exposed during three decades of water contamination going back to 1957. The numbers include Marines in barracks and military families living on the sprawling Atlantic training and deployment base, as well as civilians who worked there.
“We cannot correct a past mistake by pretending that this contamination did not take place, and we cannot avoid the hard and unpleasant facts associated with this tragic situation,” said Dole, R-N.C.
Her measure also aims to help answer questions about health effects by having those exposed give government health investigators information on their illnesses.
The groundwater contamination stemmed from industrial activity and hazardous waste on the base and from a neighboring dry cleaner. Trichloroethylene and tetrachloroethylene, solvents used for de-greasing and dry cleaning, and other toxic chemicals were identified in water sampling that eventually led to the well closures.
Studies have linked the chemicals to leukemia, non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma, birth defects and several other cancers.
Dole’s amendment differs from an earlier measure that allows the military to reach out through the media rather than directly notifying those exposed, and requires notification only after completion of a government health study.
Dole’s new measure would require notification to begin shortly after the bill’s passage.
“Enough is enough,” Dole said. “Our Marines and their families must be notified of what has happened.”
Ellie