Uh-oh.
My first thought was I better brush up on my Pashto. My second thought was could I
A coupla days later I worked up the intestinal fortitude to open the envelope. Turns out it was a 12-page summary of the report of The Camp Lejeune Historic Drinking Water Project that I posted about in March of this year. I read it in between a series of short naps and highly recommend it to anyone who has trouble sleeping.
The summary had lotsa charts and graphs and big words and technobabble and I kinda got the impression that the summary was a great big whitewash since those kinda things almost always are.
Full summary here.
Conclusion and Recommendation
It cannot be determined reliably whether diseases and disorders experienced by former residents and workers at Camp Lejuene are associated with their exposure to contaminants in the water supply because of data shortcomings and methodological limitations, and these limitations cannot be overcome with additional study. Thus, the committee concludes that there is no scientific justification for the Navy and Marine Corps to wait for the results of additional health studies before making decisions about how to follow up on the evident solvent exposures on the base and their possible health consequences. The services should undertake the assessments they deem appropriate to determine how to respond in light of the available information.
The last sentence kinda puzzled me. Respond? To what? Whaddya say about 30 years of supplying contaminated water to many tens of thousands of Marines and their dependents? Say they're sorry? Say 'tough shit'? Oops? Semper Fi?
Then today I ran across this article in the LATimes and it became crystal clear:
Camp Lejeune residents blame rare cancer cluster on the water
For three decades, dry-cleaning chemicals and industrial solvents laced the water used by local Marines and their families. Mike Partain and at least 19 others developed male breast cancer.
The "how to respond" relates to LAWSUITS. Many, many lawsuits. Some in the works already, and no doubt many more now that this info is out in the open.
In 2005, Justice Department and Environmental Protection Agency investigations found no criminal conduct by Corps officials.
However, an EPA investigator told Congress in 2007 that he had recommended obstruction of justice charges against some Camp Lejeune officials, but was overruled by prosecutors in the George W. Bush administration.
The Marine Corps waited until 1999 -- 14 years after closing the contaminated wells -- to begin notifying former base residents. That effort was part of a federal health study aimed at children conceived or born at the base during the contamination years.
Figures. IOKIYAR.
There is some hope that Uncle Sam's Mutilated Crotch will be made to do the right thing:
Last month, Sen. Richard M. Burr (R-N.C.) introduced a bill (S.1518 - 111th Congress) that would require the government to cover healthcare costs for Marines and family members who were exposed to the contaminated water.
One would think that's the least they could do. The damage is done. They can't undo it. All they can do is mitigate the damage.
Partain, whose father and grandfather were Marine officers, is tall and burly, with a shaved head and black goatee. His face reddens and his voice cracks when he discusses the toxic water. He maintains a website -- The Few, the Proud, the Forgotten -- where he posts material documenting the contamination and the stories of those who say it made them ill.
It's an extensive site. Here's a sample:
The water provided by the Tarawa Terrace and Hadnot Point distribution systems was highly contaminated with various chemicals, including the VOCs (volatile organic compounds) known as PCE (Tetrachloroethylene aka Perchloroethylene), TCE (Trichloroethylene), DCE (Dichloroethylene), Vinyl Chloride and BTEX (Benzene, Toluene, Ethylbenzene, and Xylene).These chemicals are either known or suspected human carcinogens. Many Marines, Sailors, their families and loyal civilian employees have been affected by the contamination in various ways including, but not limited to: liver cancer, kidney cancer, breast cancer, bladder cancer, ovarian cancer, prostate cancer, cervical cancer, lung cancer, leukemia, non Hodgkins lymphoma, liver disease, miscarriages, birth defects (cleft palate, heart defects, Choanal atresia, neural tube defects, low birth weight, and small for gestational age),etc. Unfortunately, many of these families still have not been notified by the USMC of the danger from their exposure. In 1987 Camp Lejeune was recommended for listing as a Superfund site on the National Priorities List (NPL) by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). Camp Lejeune was officially listed as a Superfund site in 1989.
I got a hunch that, short of legislation, the Corps will try to wiggle out of its responsibility to all those affected people. This is nothing new. All the services have contamination problems at all their bases, some dating back to the Civil War, no doubt. I'm sure that 90% of them qualify as toxic Superfund sites.
If somebody speaks out. The services do an excellent, if despicable, job of keeping this kinda shit under wraps.
Me? I didn't drink much water back then. I ain't gonna die from this shit.
I sure hope not anyway. Also, it'd be a great loss to the world to have my gorgeous manboobs lopped off.
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