thedrifter
09-30-07, 08:19 AM
Navy to issue water warning
Sunday, September 30, 2007
By JO-ANN MORIARTY
jo-ann.moriarty @newhouse.comWASHINGTON - The Senate has approved bipartisan legislation requiring the U.S. Navy to notify Marines and their families who were stationed at Camp Lejeune in North Carolina that there were exposed to contaminated drinking water.
The amendment, sponsored by U.S. Sen. Elizabeth H. Dole, R-N.C., and co-sponsored by U.S. Sens. Edward M. Kennedy and John F. Kerry, was approved to be included in the defense reauthorization bill.
The Navy must notify upwards of one million former Marines, their families and people who lived or worked at the base between 1958 and 1987 that they were exposed to contaminated water from the base's acquifers when they drank, cooked or showered.
The wells were closed in 1987 after the federal government confirmed they had been contaminated with solvents used for degreasing engines and in dry cleaning processes.
The federal government is completing a study, to be released next year, to determine any link between exposure to the contaminated water and birth defects or stillborn births to women in families stationed at Camp Lejeune.
Hampden resident Sally M. McLaughlin, who lived at the base in the early 1960s with her Marine husband, Thomas J. McLaughlin, said Friday that passage of the amendment "is a step in the right direction, in that so many people will ultimately be notified."
McLaughlin, whose daughter, Michelle, was born with severe defects and died shortly thereafter, was always haunted by Michelle's pregnancy, her second, and constantly wondered what went wrong, and if she could have done anything differently to save her daughter.
In June, she learned the federal Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry had released a report showing that for three decades, Camp Lejeune residents likely drank water that was contaminated with either PCE (tetrachloroethylene), a chemical used in dry cleaning, or TCE (trichloroethylene), a chemical used for degreasing.
The agency is now examining whether there is any relationship between exposure to the solvent-laced water and birth defects, specifically spina bifida and anencephaly.
Michelle had anencephaly, a condition where part or all of the brain is absent.
McLaughlin recounted to The Republican her experience at Camp Lejeune, her pregnancy and the birth of her daughter, and the unusually high death rate of babies of young mothers at the time.
After her story was published, other mothers with similar experiences contacted The Republican - wives of marines stationed at Camp Lejeune who lost babies at birth or during infancy.
"I am concerned that it will take years before everybody is notified," McLaughlin said Friday. "I think the national news needs to get on this, and we need to see some coverage on television."
When she learned the amendment had made it into the defense spending bill, McLaughlin was elated.
"I felt like, "Hooray!'" McLaughlin said, adding that she originally told her story to honor the memory of her daughter.
"There was a lot of crying in telling the story. But is was all worthwhile, because it may have helped a lot of people now, and that is more important," she said.
Kerry said Friday that he was "proud to work on this issue."
"These people never should have suffered this way. I am happy that families will finally get information about this potentially dangerous exposure," the senator said.
Ellie
Sunday, September 30, 2007
By JO-ANN MORIARTY
jo-ann.moriarty @newhouse.comWASHINGTON - The Senate has approved bipartisan legislation requiring the U.S. Navy to notify Marines and their families who were stationed at Camp Lejeune in North Carolina that there were exposed to contaminated drinking water.
The amendment, sponsored by U.S. Sen. Elizabeth H. Dole, R-N.C., and co-sponsored by U.S. Sens. Edward M. Kennedy and John F. Kerry, was approved to be included in the defense reauthorization bill.
The Navy must notify upwards of one million former Marines, their families and people who lived or worked at the base between 1958 and 1987 that they were exposed to contaminated water from the base's acquifers when they drank, cooked or showered.
The wells were closed in 1987 after the federal government confirmed they had been contaminated with solvents used for degreasing engines and in dry cleaning processes.
The federal government is completing a study, to be released next year, to determine any link between exposure to the contaminated water and birth defects or stillborn births to women in families stationed at Camp Lejeune.
Hampden resident Sally M. McLaughlin, who lived at the base in the early 1960s with her Marine husband, Thomas J. McLaughlin, said Friday that passage of the amendment "is a step in the right direction, in that so many people will ultimately be notified."
McLaughlin, whose daughter, Michelle, was born with severe defects and died shortly thereafter, was always haunted by Michelle's pregnancy, her second, and constantly wondered what went wrong, and if she could have done anything differently to save her daughter.
In June, she learned the federal Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry had released a report showing that for three decades, Camp Lejeune residents likely drank water that was contaminated with either PCE (tetrachloroethylene), a chemical used in dry cleaning, or TCE (trichloroethylene), a chemical used for degreasing.
The agency is now examining whether there is any relationship between exposure to the solvent-laced water and birth defects, specifically spina bifida and anencephaly.
Michelle had anencephaly, a condition where part or all of the brain is absent.
McLaughlin recounted to The Republican her experience at Camp Lejeune, her pregnancy and the birth of her daughter, and the unusually high death rate of babies of young mothers at the time.
After her story was published, other mothers with similar experiences contacted The Republican - wives of marines stationed at Camp Lejeune who lost babies at birth or during infancy.
"I am concerned that it will take years before everybody is notified," McLaughlin said Friday. "I think the national news needs to get on this, and we need to see some coverage on television."
When she learned the amendment had made it into the defense spending bill, McLaughlin was elated.
"I felt like, "Hooray!'" McLaughlin said, adding that she originally told her story to honor the memory of her daughter.
"There was a lot of crying in telling the story. But is was all worthwhile, because it may have helped a lot of people now, and that is more important," she said.
Kerry said Friday that he was "proud to work on this issue."
"These people never should have suffered this way. I am happy that families will finally get information about this potentially dangerous exposure," the senator said.
Ellie