This one is personal. For many years, the United States Marine Corps has known about contaminated drinking water at Camp LeJeune, North Carolina. The contamination was discovered in the early 1980s, but originated in the 1960s or possibly earlier. The official word is the water has been safe to drink since shortly after the discovery.
In one sense, this isn't news. There have been ongoing studies to determine if birth defects, cancers, and other health problems can be traced to Marines and their families exposed to the Camp Lejeune water. Nothing definitive has ever been established. So why am I writing about it now?
Why am I writing about it? Two reasons. First, CNN is reporting an unusually high number of cases of male breast cancer among men who lived on the base during the period in question, either as active duty Marines or their dependents. They are televising a two part special about it tonight and tomorrow night.
Second, my family lived on Camp Lejeune from 1969 to 1972. I drank the water. My brothers drank the water. My sister drank the water. My parents drank the water.
We drank water pumped from ground that was later declared a Superfund site. We were literally bathing in and ingesting poison.
I have an image of my mother walking outside on a hot summer day with a stack of plastic cups and a pitcher full of Kool-Aid for all the kids in the backyard. That probably happened a hundred times while we lived there.
We drank the Kool-Aid. I can't get that image out of my head.
The government agencies charged with researching the possible connections between the Camp Lejeune water and certain health problems have so far not been able to gather enough quality data to establish a causal relationship. The strongest link they are willing to assert is "Limited/Suggestive Evidence of an Association" to these conditions:
• Esophageal cancer (PCE)
• Lung cancer (PCE)
• Breast cancer (PCE)
• Bladder cancer (PCE)
• Kidney cancer
• Adult leukemia (solvent mixtures)
• Multiple myeloma (solvent mixtures)
• Myleodysplasic syndromes (solvent mixtures)
• Renal toxicity (solvent mixtures)
• Hepatic steatosis (solvent mixtures)
• Female infertility (with concurrent exposure
to solvent mixtures)
• Miscarriage (with exposure to PCE during
pregnancy)
• Scleroderma (solvent mixtures)
• Neurobehavioral effects (solvent mixtures)
Read the full reports here, at The National Academies website.
CNN is not quite accurate in implying that the Marine Corps claims "...no link between water contamination and later illnesses". A better description would be that the studies lack enough data, and the researchers are not confident that enough data can ever be gathered. (I would dispute that. I know of nobody who was ever contacted by the Marine Corps about this issue. One can register, as I did, but it is voluntary and the registry is barely advertised. Word of mouth seems to be the only way that possible victims are notified. Funny, they send money to my father every month, and he visits the VA hospital regularly, but they couldn't seem to find him to notify him of this issue. My uncle, another former Lejeune Marine, told us about it.)
An excellent clearinghouse and support site for the victims of this contamination is here:
The Few, The Proud, The Forgotten. They detail the pattern of denial typical from the military. When it began, the Marine Corps claimed that it was only leakage from one off-base dry-cleaning store that affected one well. Eventually, evidence was uncovered that showed the base was used as a dumping ground for a toxic stew of God-knows-what.
So, how is my family today? So far, one case of bladder cancer, one very unusual malignant brain tumor that has partially paralyzed one of my siblings, one very unusual benign tumor removed from me, and numerous problems with anxiety and depression among all of us. Not to mention my father's service-related disabilities. He not only got the contaminated water, but was also exposed to Agent Orange in Vietnam.
Was it something in the water that has caused our health problems? We'll never know for sure, but when anybody tells me that my criticism of our government, especially our military, is unpatriotic or unAmerican, I feel perfectly justified in telling them to go fuck themselves. I support our Marines, soldiers, sailors and veterans, and their families, 100%, because I know how often they've been abused, manipulated, and mutilated by an uncaring bureacracy.