WASHINGTON -- In the decades that poisonous chemicals tainted the drinking water at Camp Lejeune, hundreds of thousands of Marines filed through the base. But just 200 veterans have asked the Department of Veterans Affairs to link their illnesses to the poisons they once drank.
Of those, just 20 have been told "yes."
A Veterans Affairs official told Congress on Thursday that despite evidence of widespread contamination of drinking water at Camp Lejeune, the agency does not think the science exists to link exposure to the toxic water to a host of cancers and other diseases that former base residents have.
"Establishing presumptive diseases at this point would be premature," said Thomas J. Pamperin, associate deputy undersecretary for policy and program management at Veterans Affairs. Instead, the VA has awarded benefits on a case-by-case, and isolated, basis.
As the military, federal scientists, congressional officials and Veterans Affairs sort out how closely to link the toxins with illnesses and cancers, Marines and their families continue to struggle for their health care.
"I have no idea if I will see my daughter graduate high school, go to college or get married," said Pete Devereaux of Massachusetts, a male breast cancer patient who was told two years ago that he had just two or three years left to live.
Devereaux, his voice breaking, told members of Congress that his daughter, who is 12, has been particularly affected by his illness.
Last month, Devereaux was granted a disability decision from the VA after being repeatedly turned down in the past year.
Devereaux testified at a hearing of the House Science and Technology Committee's oversight panel, which has been investigating the Lejeune contamination. Also testifying were scientists, a military leader and other cancer patients.
Contamination noted
"The degree of contamination was extraordinary at Camp Lejeune," testified Richard Clapp, an epidemiologist and professor emeritus at Boston University. The amount of a chemical, called TCE, in one sample in 1982, he noted, was 1,400 parts per billion, more than 280 times what would be allowed by today's standards.
"This is the largest [TCE] exposure in our country's history," said Clapp, who also serves on an advisory panel for federal scientists studying the issue. "Congress needs to act."
He said there is plenty of science - going back to the early 1980s - to show that TCE and other contaminants have effects that can include cancers and, for newborns, birth defects.
But no presumption yet exists. The VA has named a task force of medical officials to advise Secretary of Veterans Affairs Eric Shinseki on whether there should be a presumption for those exposed to Lejeune's water. Pamperin said he didn't know when the task force would have answers.
Marines Corps Maj. Gen. Eugene G. Payne said the military relies on scientists to determine whether the contamination can be connected to veterans' illnesses.
"We would love for the scientific community to tell us that there is one, if there is one," Payne said in an interview. "We can't answer, because we don't know."
Meanwhile, federal scientists at the Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry continue work on a water modeling study that aims to figure out how much of the contaminants residents might have been exposed to while living at Lejeune. Chris Poitier, who became the research agency's director last month, said the agency is not in the role to decide whether links between toxins and disease amount to the kind of presumption that the VA could use to award health benefits.
"That's a societal question," Poitier said in an interview. In this case, he added, it's an issue for Congress.
U.S. Rep. Brad Miller, a Raleigh Democrat, has introduced the Janey Ensminger Act, legislation that would establish an assumption that if service members lived at Camp Lejeune from the mid-1950s through the mid-1980s, they will be presumed to have been exposed to the tainted water. The bill is named for the daughter of a Marine veteran, Jerry Ens minger of White Lake, who has been an advocate for Lejeune families. Janey Ensminger died of childhood leukemia in 1985.
The legislation also would provide health care for veterans and family members with associated diseases. It is co-sponsored in the Senate by U.S. Sens. Richard Burr and Kay Hagan..
"We will never be certain about all the adverse health consequences that come from consuming that toxic cocktail, but we can be certain that some Marines and some dependents will develop cancers that will shorten their lives," said Miller, who is chairman of the oversight subcommittee.
About a million people are estimated to have been exposed to trichloroethylene (TCE), tetrachloroethylene (PCE), benzene and other chemicals before the wells were shut down in 1984 and 1985.
