After years of pressure from grassroots activists, the U.S. Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry announced last week that it was withdrawing its 1997 report that wrongly claimed there was little cancer risk from chemical-contaminated drinking water at the U.S. Marine Corps Base Camp Lejeune near Jacksonville, N.C.
ATSDR said it would pull the public health assessment from its website because it could no longer stand by its accuracy.
The unusual announcement came from ATSDR Director William Cibulas at an April 28 meeting in Atlanta with an official community advisory panel involved in addressing the pollution problems at the base, the cleanup of which is being managed under the federal Superfund program for the nation's most toxic waste sites. The ATSDR study underestimated the severity of the contamination, Cibulas said.
In 1982, cancer-causing chemicals were detected in the drinking water at Lejeune, the Marine Corps' main base on the Atlantic coast. More than 70 chemicals were identified in all -- primarily the solvents trichloroethylene and perchloroethylene, but also benzene and other aromatic hydrocarbons, pesticides including DDT and chlordane, and toxic metals like lead and arsenic. In 2007, a retired Marine master sergeant named Jerry Ensminger found a 1981 document indicating a dump site for radioactive waste was located near a rifle range on the base. The document said the waste included strontium-90, which is known to cause leukemia and other cancers.
Ensminger served in the Marine Corps for 24 years, living for some of that time at Camp Lejeune. In 1985, his 9-year old daughter Janey (father and daughter pictured above) died of leukemia. He later went on to found an advocacy group called The Few, The Proud, The Forgotten that pressed the Marine Corps, ATSDR and other government agencies to take action on behalf of those affected by the contamination.
A division of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the ATSDR has come under fire from federal lawmakers in recent years over its shoddy science. As Facing South has reported, the agency is the target of a probe by the House Science and Technology Investigations and Oversight subcommittee, whose chairman -- Rep. Brad Miller, a North Carolina Democrat -- accused it of "jackleg science" for actions including downplaying the health threat of formaldehyde in FEMA trailers provided to people displaced by Hurricane Katrina.
Miller called ATSDR's withdrawal of the flawed health assessment "a welcome step." However, he noted that it took the agency more than 10 years -- along with pressure from activists, media scrutiny and Congressional hearings -- for that to happen. He called on the agency to review other public health assessments in cases where problems have been identified and to take action to ensure similar mistakes don't occur in the future.
"Other steps are necessary to ensure that the agency's future public health assessments are scientifically sound, achieve valid public health conclusions and are based on the most current set of data and information available," said Miller. "Unfortunately, the Subcommittee's investigation of ATSDR over the past year has found that is often not the case."
Miller noted that Camp Lejeune activists have long pointed out that ATSDR's 1997 report used flawed data to support its conclusion that exposure to the detected levels of contaminants would not pose a health hazard for adults. The subcommittee attempted to review those findings but discovered that ATSDR had lost many of the documents and data upon which it based its assessment.
As many as 1 million people may have been exposed to the water contamination at the base, according to the Associated Press. An ongoing study is looking at whether fetuses may have been harmed, and families have filed legal claims for more than $33 billion in damages.
The military newspaper Stars & Stripes reports that the Marine Corps is currently trying to reach about 500,000 people who lived and worked on the based from November 1957 through February 1987, the period during which it's believed residents were exposed to contaminated water. They're asked to register by calling (877) 261-9782 weekdays from 8:30 a.m. to 5 p.m. EST or by visiting the Marines' online registry.
(Photo of Jerry and Janey Ensminger from the Ensminger family. For more photos of people whose lives were affected by the pollution at Camp Lejeune, please visit The Few, The Proud, The Forgotten's online photo gallery.)
I want to thank you for your interest in this horrific tragedy. Most people don't realize that our Department of Defense is the worlds largest polluter with more "Super Fund" sites than any other entity on the planet! It is a horrible reality but our laws have evolved over the years to protect the polluters, not the victims of their negligence. Just take this Camp Lejeune incident for example. The Department of the Navy/United States Marine Corps admittedly did severe damage to the environment and exposed hundreds of thousands of military men, women, their family members, and civilian employees to poisoned drinking water through their negligent practices and failure to follow their own regulations. Although they admitted to these violations, the burden of proof has been placed on the shoulders of the victims. In other words, yes they polluted the environment and yes they poisoned hundreds of thousands of people but we (the victims) must prove that their negligence caused us harm. Does anyone else see anything wrong with this picture?
May 8, 2009 12:13 PM | Reply
This is exactly why we should continuously use water filters for our drinking and cooking water. While it might not remove poison, this is the way to get out chemicals such as chlorine that's stuck into our water for 'safety purposes.' Honestly, this investment will allow you to be less worried about what's in your water. I'm a firm believer, and think others should at least LOOK and see what the benefits of a filter could be. www.lifeionizers.com/?utm_source=A&utm_medium=B&utm_campaign=C
May 8, 2009 2:21 PM | Reply
andy's 3,
I realize that water filters are a necessity in this day and age and I personally use one. However, I feel that your use of a comment board for a tragic story (which includes the death of my child) to advertise your product is inappropriate and it trivializes her memory. Please remember, not everything is about the almighty buck.........Jerry Ensminger
May 9, 2009 10:40 AM | Reply
Thank you so much for your reporting these facts. My husband Colin would be alive today had we read a report like yours. The exposure of these chemicals has hit my family hard, losing my husband and father-in-law, within months of each other. The recent news keeps me optimistic that the work will finish soon and we can bury my husband for his "Service Connected Illness" which as of today, has been denied to us.
Respectfully and with appreciation,
Jody MacPherson
May 15, 2009 2:10 PM | Reply
What a shame!!! I served at both Camp LeJeune, NC as well as MCAS El Toro at what is considered "ground zero" there from 1984-86. I was initially diagnosed with inflammatory bowel disease, then crohns, then lupus (SML), then lung disease, then neurological disorders that have baffled my Dr's and a whole list of other health problems. While at MCAS my wife and I sufferd 2 miscarriages, after my discharge from there, we never suffered another one and had 4 beautiful children, but even they were born with birth defects. I have tried to get a VA disaiblity rating which they granted at 30% in 1986 but ever since then they have denied any further benefits or increase in disability ratings despite the mountain of evidence to prove my service connection from my civilian doctors as well as my military and even the VA doctors themselves. In some cases the VA simply shredded the documents of evidence and even were bold enough to write a letter to both myself and to Senator Maria Cantwell (of the state of Washington)confirming that they destroyed evidence in my case but then "promising" that they had now stopped this practise. Great, I said , but what about the documents of evidence they already admit to destroying in my case/claim? what were they going to do to "make this right?". I recieved no answer from either the VA nor the Senators office despite repeated calls and letters to both parties.
And now, a "examination" done by a group funded by the military or government claims that there are no connections to these contaminants and our health problems is to be the "end all" of any furhter claims? I read in their report that any further study of the MARINES and their dependants and the civilians who worked there and were exposed would be "biased" as it was expected that the majority of those who would participate in the study were or are sick or suffer from adverse health effects.
Well, I am so sorry that the vast majority of those of us that would participate in any study are sick!!!! Since the vast majority of those exposed (and still living)are probably sick as a result of these exposures, what does the group or the military expect? I went from being a very muscular man who was not only a former Marine but also a cop and a professional ultimate fighter to a very sick and now totally disabled 43 yr old man who now has the bones of a man in his late 70's my doctors now tell me. I lost a son, as well, to AML.But I am just supposed to sit back and continue to get sickler and sicker take more and more medication until i just die and am no longer a problem for the VA or the MARINES is that right? I served my country and my community as both a Marine and Cop and i always fought , and almost died, protecting those who could not protect themselves and fought to protect the rights granted and guaranteed under our constitution with the expectation that if the time came when i might be the one needing protection that , at the very least, my elected officials would be there to see to it that i recieved any and all help I might need. Boy was I ever wrong.
What ever happened to those words we, as Marines, were taught to believe meant so much....Semper Fi? Faithful to GOD, COUNTRY and CORPS. But where is our GOD, COUNTRY OR CORPS NOW?
June 14, 2009 3:08 AM | Reply
Hey Jerry, it was good talking with you on the phone the other day. I have been going through the ton of work tftptf has compiled on its website. I have been suffering from migranes everyday since since 1986, I have diabetes now since 2004, joint issues, tumors on my kidneys which tranlates into a 40% reduction of function, and I have trouble with my bowels. Nobody in my family has these issues. In my family ya kick the bucket from heart attack and stroke. Allow me to recap what I was saying about sueing the government. We as former Marines cannot file suit against the government because of the Feres Doctrine. There might be a way around the Feres Doctrine, if the class action lawsuits were moved to what's called Admiralty jurisdiction. In Admiralty jurisdiction it strips the government of what's called Sovereign Immunity and it would allow the government to be sued as if it were a private person, it also allows for crimminal prosecution of those persons responsable for allowing the contamination to persists. It would even allow the prosecution of ATSDR for loosing evidence. Its worth looking into since you have the contacts.
Oh and to andeys3 you're a dirtbag, for trying to use a public forum to promote your sales. You're the reason people hate unethical salesmen.
June 24, 2009 12:38 AM | Reply
Good grief, is there no end to the lies and cover ups? I served in the USMC and proudly did my four years. I spent 3 tour RVN. Went through training at LeJuene and Pendelton. In recent years I have finally started getting a small disability from the VA for PTSD and hearing loss. I have gone through endless testings, as my legs, feet and hands have no feeling any more. My legs ache constantly. The VA has finally decided that I have Periphiral neurpathy. They say it is caused by being in contact with Agent Orange and I have high levels of Arsenic in my system. The VA claimed it has nothing to do with my military service. They fought me for a long time about the peripheral neuropathy as they say you can't get it without first having sugar diabetes. Now, they say I also have diabetes, however, it still isn't their fault because I complained of the neuropathy first. This is an ongoing bunch of garbage that I have to put up with. Up to this time I am still fighting with the VA so I can get the help I need. They bring me in, do a physical, send me to another department and then make your next appointment for something in 2010. What kind of follow up is that? Go figure. The few, the proud, the Marines? I can tell why it ends up "The Few".
October 9, 2009 2:36 PM | Reply
I realize that I have already bored folks from my soap box, however, seems like I always see the dark side of the moon. One of the articles I scanned through talked of how private businesses were bringing toxins on to the base to dump. With the way my mind works, and the corruption of every thing now days, where's the money? Nobody, but nobody, brings any thing on to a military instillation without authorization. If there were private companies, as reported, coming on the base to dump the toxins who was getting the pay off to let them on. If they know now where the toxins came from then they know who dumped them. I'd just like to know who got the money to allow these guys to come on base. When I was in ITR at Pendelton, I had just come from MCRD San Diego. I had one pair of dress shoes that were shined to no end, one pair of dress boots, also shined no end. and the the one pair of boots I wore all the time. Graduation day, MCRD, we wore our spit shined dress shoes for the first time for about two hours. Then we went back to the huts and put on our good utilities and our spit shined boots, for the first time. We wore those about four hours. We got to ITR, Pendelton, and we were ordered to bring all our boots and shoes to the platoon sergeants office. We were told they were wore out and would have to be resoled. 140 men in that platoon handed in new shoes, and two pairs of boot to be resoled. The next day are were returned and we had to pay to have this done. I've always thought, if I knew now what I didn't know then, I would have requested mast and gone clear to the top to find out who was screwing us. Think of the money they made when they made every platoon, coming thorough every 12 weeks, do the same thing. You and I know damn well they didn't resole every one of those shoes and boots over night. Would they screw us, you tell me.
October 9, 2009 10:53 PM | Reply