Congress passes bill for Marine families hurt by tainted water

Congress passes bill for Marine families hurt by tainted water
By Franco Ordoñez
Washington Correspondent
Posted: Wednesday, Aug. 01, 2012

This photo provided by Jerry Ensminger shows his daughter Janey, in an undated photo. Janey died of leukemia at age 9 not long after this photo was taken. Her father, former Marine master sergeant Jerry Ensminger said he believes she died due to exposure to contaminated water, while he was stationed at Camp Lejeune, N.C.

WASHINGTON The day after Janey Ensminger would have celebrated her 36th birthday, the U.S. House of Representatives passed a historic bill in her honor that would help thousands of sick Marine veterans and their families who were exposed to contaminated water at Camp Lejeune.

Legislation that has languished for years could soon be on the president’s desk after the House followed in the Senate’s footsteps and passed the measure under suspension of the rules by a voice vote.

Janey was just 9 when she died of a rare form of leukemia. Her family struggled for years to understand how, or why, she fell prey to the mysterious illness.

It was her father, Jerry Ensminger, who helped uncover that his daughter was one of as many as 1 million people who were exposed to contaminated drinking water at the Marine base near Jacksonville.
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DeMint holding up bill to treat Marines and families

UPDATE

Lejeune health care bill is unstuck in Senate
By Rick Maze
Staff writer
Posted : Wednesday Jul 18, 2012

A stalled veterans’ bill is now on track for Senate passage this week after a small change was made in a landmark program under which the Veterans Affairs Department would provide health care to people suffering from long-term effects of drinking contaminated water at Camp Lejeune, N.C.

Up to 750,000 people who lived or worked on the base from Jan. 1, 1957, through Dec. 31, 1987, would be eligible for care if they have a disability or disease linked to exposure to drinking water found to contain carcinogens.

Sen. Jim DeMint, R-S.C., had used his Senate privileges to put a hold on the bill because it included no provision to allow VA to deny coverage even if an individual’s health problems clearly stemmed from some other cause.

DeMint and Sen. Patty Murray, D-Wash., the Senate Veterans’ Affairs Committee chairwoman, reached agreement Wednesday to add a section allowing VA to deny health care if “conclusive evidence” is available to show the individual’s disability or disease had a different cause than exposure to the contaminated drinking water at Lejeune.
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Vets bill held up by Lejeune toxic water issue
By Rick Maze
Staff writer
Posted : Monday Jul 16, 2012

A South Carolina senator is holding up a landmark veterans’ bill that would provide health care for thousands of people suffering the ill effects of exposure to toxic water at Camp Lejuene because eligibility rules for the new benefits doesn’t include enough safeguards to prevent fraud.

Because of this objection from Republican Sen. Jim DeMint, the Senate has been unable to approve a comprehensive veterans’ bill that was agreed to on June 21 by members of the House and Senate veterans’ affairs committee.

The bill in dispute is the Honoring America’s Veterans and Caring for Camp Lejeune Families Act of 2012.

DeMint was not part of the negotiations, but Senate rules give every senator the power to temporarily block legislation and nominees, a power DeMint is using while trying to renegotiate details about how the Veterans Affairs Department to determine eligibility for health care for people who lived or worked at the Marine Corps base from Jan. 1, 1957 through Dec. 31, 1987.
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Would Burn-pit registry be waste of time and money?

You've heard the expression "time is money" so anything the congress mandates will take time to implement and money to fund it. Considering the backlog of claims, lack of mental health workers and influx of new veterans waiting too long for the country to live up to their end of the deal, will this help or hurt veterans?

VA: Burn-pit registry would not be effective
By Rick Maze
Staff writer
Posted : Wednesday Jun 13, 2012

Veterans Affairs Department officials are opposing legislation to create a registry of service members who may have been exposed to toxic fumes of open burn pits in Iraq or Afghanistan, and they say they do not see the value of such an effort.

“VA can identify all service members that deployed to Iraq and Afghanistan and has used this information in the development of an injury-and-illness surveillance system,” said Curtis Coy, VA’s deputy undersecretary for economic opportunity, at a Wednesday hearing at which a burn-pit bill was discussed.

Coy said there are two other reasons why the Obama administration doesn’t support S 1798, a burn-pit bill pending in the Senate.

“The most recent Institute of Medicine report on burn pits identified air pollution, rather than smoke from burn pits, as the most concerning potential environmental hazard,” he said.

He also noted that all Iraq and Afghanistan veterans already are eligible for up to five years of post-discharge health care, free of charge, from VA.

“Special authority for such a registry is not required,” Coy said.
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Then again since it seems as if the "Institute of Medicine" wants to call toxic fumes "air pollution" these veterans may need a lot more help than they are getting.

Erin Brockovich Talks 'Last Call At The Oasis'

Erin Brockovich Talks 'Last Call At The Oasis' And Water Contamination Issues
The Huffington Post
By Joanna Zelman
Posted: 05/1/2012

Environmental activist Erin Brockovich recently held a roundtable discussion at The Huffington Post's offices to address water contamination challenges, the upcoming documentary "Last Call At The Oasis," and her newest endeavor to combat health concerns around the world.

"Last Call At The Oasis" focuses on the growing global water crisis, from the drying up of Lake Mead to the fight to keep herbicides from tainting drinking water. The film highlights Brockovich's newest project, mapping disease clusters around the world in partnership with Google.

Brockovich told HuffPost that this "pet project" began as she was receiving up to 50,000 emails per month from people reporting health issues in their communities, writing concerns such as: "We think it's odd that we have 18 people on our street with Hodgkins; We think it's odd that we have 15 kids on our street with leukemia; We think it's odd that we have 20 people in the community with glioblastoma brain tumors."
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Complaint says KBR knew of toxins in Iraq

Complaint says KBR knew of toxins in Iraq
By Nigel Duara
The Associated Press
Posted : Wednesday Apr 4, 2012
PORTLAND, Ore. — A document uncovered by attorneys for soldiers sickened at an Iraqi water treatment plant shows a military contractor knew a deadly toxin was being stockpiled and used in massive quantities at the facility, despite the contractor’s repeated denials that it had knowledge of the toxin’s presence until soldiers fell ill.

The document, an environmental assessment that Kellogg, Brown and Root completed for the U.S. government before the invasion of Iraq, was finalized in January 2003 — a full five months before the company said it had found evidence of the toxic material, sodium dichromate.

The documents show KBR knew Iraqis ordered 8 million pounds of sodium dichromate to keep pipes from corroding, and that the company expected lax environmental maintenance and “lamentable” conditions.

Phone messages and emails left Wednesday for KBR were not immediately returned.
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Families link burn pits to health woes, debt

Families link burn pits to health woes, debt
By Patricia Kime - Staff writer
Posted : Monday Feb 6, 2012 13:36:19 EST
Army Reserve wife Rosie Torres, 38, stood in line Jan. 19 at a Texas Health and Human Services office to apply for assistance with her mortgage, bills and groceries.

Mounting debt related to her husband’s medical bills has pushed the couple into arrears; between insurance deductibles, house payments and overages, they owe more than $55,000.

LeRoy Torres, 39, a Reserve captain and former Texas state trooper, was assigned to Joint Base Balad, Iraq, in 2008 and believes exposure to the camp’s open-air burn pits left him with debilitating respiratory problems. He can’t walk long distances, perform daily tasks or even roughhouse with his kids.

But although he can’t work full time, between his drill pay and Rosie’s part-time pay, they make too much to qualify for a grant.

“My husband actually said that with our insurance, we’d be better off if he’s not around,” Rosie Torres said. “I don’t want to hear that. That’s not what our family needs.”
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Congress members want answers on Lejeune toxic water report

Congress members want answers on Lejeune report
January 31, 2012 4:47 PM
ASSOCIATED PRESS

CAMP LEJEUNE — Three members of Congress from North Carolina, along with lawmakers from other states, are worried that information left out of a new report on water contamination at Camp Lejeune could set a troubling precedent for future research on the subject.

The three sent a letter to Dr. Thomas Frieden, director of the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, asking why an affiliated agency blacked out information in its Jan. 19 report on the location of water systems used on the base that houses Marines.

The Marine Corps said that was sensitive national security information. The lawmakers are concerned that the agency was too willing to leave out the information, and that future data about contaminated water could be kept from the public without a valid reason.

"An open and transparent process is essential to this scientific endeavor and it is particularly important for the ongoing and future studies on Camp Lejeune's water contamination," Sen. Kay Hagan, Sen. Richard Burr and U.S. Rep. Brad Miller said in the letter that was also signed by lawmakers in Florida and Michigan.
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Camp Lejeune Water Contamination Cover-Up Hinted In Navy Letter

Camp Lejeune Water Contamination Cover-Up Hinted In Navy Letter

Lynne Peeples


The U.S. Navy is asking government investigators to suppress information concerning the toxic water scandal at the Marine Corps' Camp Lejeune, according to a letter obtained Thursday by The Huffington Post.

The letter, signed by Maj. Gen. J.A. Kessler of the Marine Corps and dated Jan. 5, 2012, asks the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's Agency for Toxic Substances & Disease Registry to withhold from a forthcoming report details about the whereabouts of water lines, wells, treatment plants and storage tanks on the North Carolina military base -- in the name of national security.

"The Marine Corps understands the need to share information with the scientific community," writes Kessler, the Marines' assistant deputy commandant for installations and logistics. "Prudence requires, however, that information sharing be within the rubric of responsible force protection."

Government watchdogs and environmental advocates said they interpret the letter as further evidence of a Navy effort to evade culpability for what many call the worst and largest drinking water contamination in U.S. history.
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Jacksonville reacts to Semper Fi: Always Faithful documentary

Jacksonville reacts to Semper Fi: Always Faithful documentary
November 15, 2011 10:11 AM
SUZANNE ULBRICH - DAILY NEWS STAFF
Many came in hopes they might find answers to questions they’ve had for years. For some, those answers were shocking.

The Wilmington-based non-profit organization Working Films gave a special screening of the film Semper Fi: Always Faithful to an audience of around 100 people at Northside High School Sunday afternoon.

The documentary highlighted Jerry Ensminger’s tenacity in pushing forward information about drinking water contamination aboard Camp Lejeune that has affected thousands people for several decades.

The 2011 film, directed by Rachel Libert and Tony Hardmon, documents Esminger and other former Camp Lejeune troops and their families as they searched for answers about a period of chemical contamination in the base drinking water. It portrays their inexhaustible attempts to get authorities to hold the base accountable for their lack of response and cover-up of the issue and ensure those affected by contacted by the base.
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Rep. Todd Akin "Military’s Burn Pits Screwed Our Soldiers"

Burn Pits are the Agent Orange of this generation. With the Gulf War, they are still not sure what caused so many health problems. Why is it that after combat veterans end up discovering they have more to worry about after it than during it?

Congressman: The Military’s Burn Pits Screwed Our Soldiers
By Katie Drummond
November 3, 2011
A few months after he came home from Iraq, the Sergeant started having trouble breathing, and noticed numbness in his feet and hands. The military doctors he saw blamed his smoking habit: At 27-years-old, he’d been indulging in half a pack a day for five years. The Pentagon swore that the noxious smoke emanating from the military’s open-air burn pits — massive heaps of household trash, computer parts and even human waste that were used at bases in Iraq until last year, and are still being used in Afghanistan — weren’t at all responsible.

“We all knew that huge plumes of smoke going into the air, all the time, can’t exactly be good for you,” says the Sergeant, who requested anonymity because he fears reprisal from his commanding officers.

Now, one congressman wants the Pentagon to start paying attention to the accumulation of ailments. Rep. Todd Akin today announced a new bill that’d create a database of military personnel afflicted with health conditions they blame on burn pits.

“I have worked with a number of my constituents who were exposed to burn pits while serving in the military,” Rep. Akin, a Republican from Missouri, said in a statement. “The health consequences have been severe.”
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More data needed on burn pits, report says

More data needed on burn pits, report says
By Patricia Kime - Staff writer
Posted : Monday Oct 31, 2011 13:43:32 EDT
A group of the nation’s top researchers has concluded there are insufficient data to determine whether open-air burn pits, used extensively by the U.S. military during the wars Iraq and Afghanistan to dispose of trash and other waste, cause long-term health effects.

Furthermore, the Institute of Medicine committee, which investigated the possible long-term health effects of burn pits at the request of the Veterans Affairs Department, said the biggest pollution concern at one of the most controversial sites, Joint Base Balad, Iraq, is likely particulate matter resulting from local and regional sources, not the military burn pits, which operated there from 2003 to 2008.

The report released by the Institute of Medicine said there are “insufficient data” to determine whether pollution from the pits is associated with cancer, respiratory disease and other illnesses.

In trying to determine whether there was a link between burn pits and adverse health conditions, the panel examined data provided by the Defense Department on pollutants found in raw air, information on health effects from various studies, and the health outcomes in populations that experience similar exposures, such as firefighters, waste incinerator employees and people who live near such facilities.
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Study links Gulf War illnesses to location

Study links Gulf War illnesses to location
By Kelly Kennedy - USA TODAY
Posted : Monday Sep 19, 2011 7:20:53 EDT
WASHINGTON — New research to be released Monday shows that veterans with Gulf War illness faced different toxins depending on where they were served: anti-nerve-agent pills and Scud missiles for forward-deployed troops and pesticides for support personnel in the rear.

There’s also no correlation between anthrax shots, depleted uranium and psychological issues and Gulf War illness, said the study by the Midwest Research Institute to appear in the Environmental Health Perspectives journal. That supports earlier research on those topics.

“Already, the evidence was mounting for these two exposures,” said Lea Steele, lead author and director of Baylor University’s Research Initiative on Complex Illness. “When you pull all the research together, you start to see patterns that are very consistent.”

About one-fourth of the 700,000 veterans who served in the 1991 Persian Gulf War developed symptoms that include chronic headaches, widespread pain, memory and concentration problems, persistent fatigue, gastrointestinal problems, skin abnormalities and mood disturbances.”
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Documenting a Fight for Environmental Justice at Camp Lejeune

Semper Fi: Always Faithful-- Documenting a Fight for Environmental Justice

Marcia G. YermanNYC writer focusing on women's issues; co-founder, cultureID

"There are over 130 contaminated military sites in the United states. This makes the Department of Defense the nation's largest polluter."

These words stand as the most salient message of the documentary Semper Fi: Always Faithful, a film that encompasses the worlds of environmental justice, the military, politics and science.

The protagonist of the narrative is Ret. Master Sergeant Jerry Ensminger -- a formidable presence. When framed against the backdrop of the United States Capitol, his physical demeanor telegraphs that he is a man to be reckoned with. For Ensminger, the narrative begins with his daughter, Janey, who died at the age of 9 from a rare form of childhood leukemia. Trying to understand the reason behind her illness is the subtext of Ensminger's quest, as well as the connective tissue for the ensuing narrative about water contamination at Camp Lejeune in North Carolina. Ensminger's relentless search for truth is driven by the need to get answers not only for himself, but also for the nearly one million people who were unknowingly exposed to toxic chemicals at the base.

The backstory gets set in motion in 1941, when a fuel depot in operation at Camp Lejeune had leaks that were seeping into the ground -- 1,500 feet from a drinking water supply well. The estimated start date of the water contamination was 1957, when other improperly disposed of solvents additionally entered the mix. In 1975, Ensminger was living at Camp Lejeune. His wife was pregnant with Janey. In 1983, his daughter received her diagnosis. Ironically, unbeknownst to Ensminger, between 1980-1984, the water was being tested at the base with results consistently finding contaminants and "health concerns."
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Male breast cancer patients denied Medicaid coverage

Male breast cancer patients denied Medicaid coverage
Published on August 9, 2011
By Dr Ananya Mandal, MD

Many men with breast cancer are being denied Medicaid coverage for breast cancer treatment because of their gender.

The American Cancer society's pages on breast cancer in men lay out the facts. About 2,000 men are diagnosed with breast cancer each year, which makes it rare: about 100 times more women get the disease. It is known that men, like women, are more likely to develop cancer if they have certain mutations of the BRCA1 and BRCA2 genes. Family history and age contribute to a man's likelihood of developing the disease as well. Heavy drinking and exposure to radiation are believed to be risk factors, as is obesity. A recent breast cancer cluster among men who had been exposed to contaminated drinking water at North Carolina's Camp Lejeune had patients wondering if there was also a link between chemical exposure and the disease.
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Male breast cancer patients denied Medicaid coverage

300,000 surveys to be mailed on Camp Lejeune toxic water exposure

Camp Lejeune Water: The Newest Study
Michelle Bliss (Roderick McClain contributed audio for this report) (2011-07-27)


WILMINGTON, NC (WHQR) - The Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry is mailing out 300,000 surveys between now and December to study the effects of water contamination at Camp Lejeune.

At the same time, an act that would allow Lejeune veterans and family members to receive health care through the VA sits in a U.S. House committee.

Between 1957 and 1987, carcinogens like benzene were leaked into the wells on base. WHQR's
Michelle Bliss attended a public forum in Wilmington last week where researchers spoke to a group of active Marines and sailors, veterans, civilians, and their families about the study.

"I spent a quarter of a century in the United States Marine Corps. No has been more disillusioned and more disappointed by the conduct of the leadership of our organization than I have been about this situation with this water."

Jerry Ensminger offered opening remarks to an audience scattered among mostly empty chairs. He's a veteran who lost his 9-year-old daughter Janey in 1985 to childhood leukemia, one of the many illnesses linked to the contamination caused by underground fuel tanks on base and a small dry cleaning business.

Less than a hundred people attended the event, a disappointing turnout for advocates like Ensminger, who don't want others to find out like he did, nearly 14 years ago.
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Camp Lejeune Water

Abnormal biopsies showing up in Iraq-Afghan veterans with unexplained breathing problems

Breathing Problems Strike Soldiers Returning From Iraq
Exposure to some unknown toxin in the air could be the cause, experts say
Posted: July 20, 2011

By Steven Reinberg
HealthDay Reporter

All the biopsies were abnormal, and the researchers diagnosed 38 soldiers with constrictive bronchiolitis. Constrictive bronchiolitis is a rare non-reversible lung disease in which the small airways in the lungs are compressed and narrowed by scar tissue or inflammation.

WEDNESDAY, July 20 (HealthDay News) -- Some U.S. soldiers returning from Iraq and Afghanistan are suffering unexplained breathing problems that may be related to exposure to unknown toxins, a new study indicates.

"Respiratory disorders are emerging as a major consequence of service in southwest Asia," said study author Dr. Matthew S. King, an assistant professor of pulmonary and critical care at Meharry Medical College in Nashville, Tenn.

"In addition to our study, there have been studies showing increases in asthma, obstructive lung disease, allergic rhinitis and a general increase in reports of respiratory symptoms," he added.

The report was published in the July 21 issue of the New England Journal of Medicine.
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Breathing Problems Strike Soldiers Returning From Iraq

Families Exposed To Toxic Water Make Progress in Fight

Families Exposed To Toxic Water Make Progress in Fight

This 4th of July, some local Marine Corps families exposed to contaminated water are feeling mixed emotions. They're proud to have served their country, but are still looking for recognition for injuries suffered by their families.

Imagine drinking water that's so contaminated, it can cause severe health problems, including birth defects and childhood leukemia. It's estimated a million people were exposed to that for years at Camp Lejeune, North Carolina. One local family has been fighting to get those people health care benefits and as Local 12's Paula Toti reports, they got some good news on Monday.
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Families Exposed To Toxic Water Make Progress in Fight

Up to 1 million exposed to Camp Lejeune's toxic water

Bill to help Camp Lejeune water victims faces uphill fight


BY BARBARA BARRETT

MCCLATCHY NEWSPAPERS

WASHINGTON -- Legislation that could offer health care to hundreds of thousands of victims of water contamination at Camp Lejeune, N.C., continues to have trouble gaining traction on a debt-wary Capitol Hill.

Sen. Richard Burr of North Carolina, who sponsored the bill, would like to see it approved in the coming month by the Senate Veterans' Affairs Committee, where he's the top Republican.

"I hope my colleagues will agree that this is the right thing to do," Burr said.

But the bill is controversial. At a hearing in the committee Wednesday, both the Defense Department and the Department of Veterans Affairs said they oppose the legislation, calling it overly broad and possibly unnecessary.

And some of the nation's veterans service organizations say they have serious problems with it, too.

Burr's bill, the Caring for Camp Lejeune Veterans Act of 2011, would require Veterans Affairs to pay for the health care of any veteran or family member whose ailment can be linked to water contamination at Camp Lejeune. He submitted it during the previous Congress as well.

It was one of about three dozen veterans-related bills discussed at the meeting. Committee members will decide which should be brought forward for detailed discussion and a committee vote, called a mark-up.

Up to a million people are thought to have been exposed to contaminated water from the mid-1950s through 1987.


Read more: Bill to help Camp Lejeune water victims faces uphill fight

Marine Corps Records on Camp Lejeune Site Missing

Marine Corps Records on Camp Lejeune Site Missing
By WILLIAM R. LEVESQUE
ST. PETERSBURG TIMES

Published: Saturday, May 21, 2011
Some soil at Camp Lejeune, N.C., was so saturated with fuel and chemicals by the late 1980s, the Marine Corps knew it was critical to test the air in nearby buildings for carcinogens.

"We want to be sure that there are no compounds present inside the work spaces in these buildings — which could have a long-term chronic adverse health effect on occupants," base environmental engineer Bob Alexander told the public in 1988.

Testing, he said, would begin "in the very near future."

But nothing in the vast collection of public records detailing one of the nation's worst contamination sites shows the Marine Corps kept that promise.

The only indoor air quality testing reflected in records occurred a decade or more later. And by then, fuel odors were so bad that five buildings would be demolished.

After weeks of searching their files, Corps officials acknowledged to the St. Petersburg Times that they could find no documentation that testing was completed before the late 1990s.
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Marine Corps Records on Camp Lejeune Site Missing

Camp Lejeune Toxic Water, Now Toxic Air?

Lejeune Toxic Water, Now Toxic Air?
The Marine Corps may have known the air could make people sick for years before taking action.
By CHRIS BROWN
Published: May 19, 2011

CAMP LEJEUNE, N.C. - For years we've told you about toxic chemicals in tap water at camp lejeune, and the impact they're having on the health of people exposed, but recently uncovered documents show the water may not have been the only thing making people sick.

The air on some areas of the base may also have been toxic.

Document after document, paint a startling picture.

More than a million gallons of contaminants leaked into the ground at Camp Lejeune, not only poisioning the water, but the air as well, and Jerry Ensminger found proof.

“One skeleton after another comes falling out of the closet in this situation,” said Ensminger, whose daughter died of cancer when she was 9, while their family lived on base.
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Lejeune Toxic Water, Now Toxic Air?