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Press Release: The Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry’s (ATSDR) study article “Evaluation of mortality among Marines and Navy personnel exposed to contaminated drinking water at USMC Base Camp Lejeune: A retrospective cohort study” has been released
Feb. 20, 2014

United States Marine Corps Media Branch
Capt Maureen Krebs

HEADQUARTERS MARINE CORPS - ATSDR’s “Evaluation of mortality among Marines and Navy personnel exposed to contaminated drinking water at USMC Base Camp Lejeune: A retrospective cohort study” was published yesterday.

The purpose of this study was to determine whether exposures of Marine and Naval personnel to contaminated drinking water at Camp Lejeune increased risk of mortality from cancers and other chronic diseases. The study focused on 154,932 Marine and Naval personnel who began active duty service during April 1975 – December 1985 and were stationed at Camp Lejeune anytime during this period. A comparison cohort consisted of 154,969 Marine and Naval personnel who began active duty service during April 1975 – December 1985, were stationed anytime during this period at USMC Base Camp Pendleton, but were not stationed at Camp Lejeune during this period. The study relies on ATSDR’s previous water modeling estimates (http://www.atsdr.cdc.gov/sites/lejeune/watermodeling.html) of past exposures to a class of chemicals known as “volatile organic compounds” (VOCs) in water.

The Provisional PDF and ATSDR’s factsheet can be viewed here: http://www.atsdr.cdc.gov/sites/lejeune/mortalitystudy.html

For more information about this and other studies being conducted by ATSDR, visit http://www.atsdr.cdc.gov/sites/lejeune/ or call (800) 232-4636.

The Camp Lejeune historic drinking water issue is an important concern for our Marine Corps family. Some of our Marine family members have experienced tragic health issues they believe are associated with water they drank or used in the past at Camp Lejeune. Our goal is to use the best available science in an effort to provide our Marine Corps family members the answers they deserve and keep them updated as new information becomes available. Since 1991 we have supported scientific and public health organizations that are studying these issues. We continue to work diligently to identify and notify individuals who, in the past, may have been exposed to the chemicals in drinking water. For more information, or to register to receive information as future studies are released, please see: www.marines.mil/clwater

If you feel that you have a medical condition that may be related to the historic drinking water at Camp Lejeune, we also encourage you to visit the Department of Veterans Affairs website, http://www.publichealth.va.gov/exposures/camp-lejeune , to learn more about health care benefits provided pursuant to the “Honoring America’s Veterans and Caring for Camp Lejeune Families Act of 2012.”

The drinking water at Camp Lejeune currently meets all government drinking water standards and is tested more often than required. For Camp Lejeune’s annual water quality reports, please see: http://www.lejeune.marines.mil/OfficesStaff/EnvironmentalMgmt/AnnualReports.aspx

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