said the reports are anecdotal and that there has been no proven link between specific cases of illness and the contaminated water.

At least 850 former Camp Lejeune residents have filed legal claims.


Pollution discovered in 1982

In 1992, federal regulators set the maximum allowable amount at 5 micrograms of PCE per liter, Sinks told CNN in a telephone interview after he testified before the House Oversight and Investigations Subcommittee.

But residents at Camp Lejeune were exposed to an average of 70 micrograms of PCE per liter, with the highest levels around 200 micrograms per liter.

The contamination was discovered in 1982 in several wells that fed into two of the base’s eight...

said the reports are anecdotal and that there has been no proven link between specific cases of illness and the contaminated water.

At least 850 former Camp Lejeune residents have filed legal claims.


Pollution discovered in 1982

In 1992, federal regulators set the maximum allowable amount at 5 micrograms of PCE per liter, Sinks told CNN in a telephone interview after he testified before the House Oversight and Investigations Subcommittee.

But residents at Camp Lejeune were exposed to an average of 70 micrograms of PCE per liter, with the highest levels around 200 micrograms per liter.

The contamination was discovered in 1982 in several wells that fed into two of the base’s eight water systems, according to the Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry, a federal public health agency.

The agency, which has been studying the contamination since 1993, blamed leaking underground storage tanks, spills and drum disposal as well as solvent-disposal practices at an off-base dry cleaners.

The agency has also initiated a study on whether 12,000 offspring of women who drank the base’s water while pregnant are at increased risk of developing certain birth defects or illnesses.

No study has been undertaken on how the Marines themselves may have been affected, Sinks said.

The Few, The Proud, The Forgotten

For the moment, the agency is recommending only that people who lived on the base from 1957 to 1987 check with their doctors.

Its Web site, www.atsdr.cdc.gov/sites/lejeune, lets Marines enter the dates they lived on the base and learn about their exposure.

“The purpose of the hearing today is to get some answers,” said the committee’s chairman, Democratic Rep. Bart Stupak of Michigan, in prepared remarks.

He then ticked through a list of questions he wanted answered:

“When did the Marine Corps learn that the drinking water at Camp Lejeune, a military base with nearly 100,000 residents, was contaminated with dangerous chemicals?


POSTED: June 13...

The Few, The Proud, The Forgotten

For the moment, the agency is recommending only that people who lived on the base from 1957 to 1987 check with their doctors.

Its Web site, www.atsdr.cdc.gov/sites/lejeune, lets Marines enter the dates they lived on the base and learn about their exposure.

“The purpose of the hearing today is to get some answers,” said the committee’s chairman, Democratic Rep. Bart Stupak of Michigan, in prepared remarks.

He then ticked through a list of questions he wanted answered:

“When did the Marine Corps learn that the drinking water at Camp Lejeune, a military base with nearly 100,000 residents, was contaminated with dangerous chemicals?


POSTED: June 13, 2007

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