Thread: Poisoned patriots? Stricken Marines seek help with illnesses

Male breast cancer patients blame water at Marine base


From Abbie Boudreau and Scott Bronstein
CNN Special Investigations Unit
September 24, 2009


Editor's note: This is part one of a two-part series.

Story Highlights

•20 people, all Marines or sons of Marines, have had male breast cancer

•Each lived at Camp Lejeune between the 1960s and 1980s

•"We all at some point in our lives drank the water at Camp Lejeune," one says

•Marine Corps says two studies found no link to "adverse health effects"



Jim Fontella was based at Camp Lejeune in 1966 and 1967. He was diagnosed with breast cancer in 1998


TAMPA, Florida (CNN) -- The sick men are Marines, or sons of Marines. All 20 of them were based at or lived at Camp Lejeune, the U.S. Marine Corps' training base in North Carolina, between the 1960s and the 1980s.

They all have had breast cancer, a disease that strikes fewer than 2,000 men in the United States a year, compared with about 200,000 women. Each has had part of his chest removed as part of his treatment, along with chemotherapy, radiation or both.

And they blame their time at Camp Lejeune, where government records show drinking water was contaminated with high levels of toxic chemicals for three decades, for their illnesses.

"We come from all walks of life," said Mike Partain, the son and grandson of Marines, who was born on the base 40 years ago. "And some of us have college degrees, some of us have blue-collar jobs. We are all over the country. And what is our commonality? Our commonality is that we all at some point in our lives drank the water at Camp Lejeune. Go figure."

Starting in 1980, tests showed drinking water at Camp Lejeune had been "highly contaminated" with solvents. Several wells that supplied water to the base were found to have been contaminated in 1984 and 1985, and were promptly taken out of service after the pollutants were found, the Marine Corps told CNN.

Among the chemicals later identified in the drinking water were trichloroethylene, a degreaser; benzene; and the dry cleaning solvent perchloroethylene. Two independent studies have found no link between water contamination and later illnesses, according to the Marine Corps. But the men facing a debilitating and possibly lethal disease don't buy it.

"That's literally unheard of to have 20 men come from the same place, walking on the same dirt, drinking the same water," said Jim Fontella, who was based at the camp in 1966 and 1967. "I mean, there has to be a link there somehow. And they're saying that it couldn't happen."

Fontella, a Detroit native who fought in Vietnam, was diagnosed with breast cancer in 1998. When it returned after surgery, spreading to his spine and back, he "kind of manned up to it after a while and expected to die."

"Once you have metastasis in the bone, it's basically just a matter of time before you die, you know," he told CNN. "Luckily, I have already passed my due date by five years. I outlived that death sentence I got."

Fontella is one of seven male breast cancer survivors who spent time at Camp Lejeune who spoke to CNN. Fontella said that at the time of his diagnosis, he didn't know men could get breast cancer.

Peter Devereaux, who was diagnosed with breast cancer in 2008, was based at Camp Lejeune in 1981 and 1982. The cancer spread to his spine, ribs and hips.

"The difference with metastatic breast cancer means now there's no cure. So the average life expectancy is two to three years," Devereaux told CNN.

"Being a man, I try to take care of my wife and my daughter," he said, his voice catching. "Now that I'm considered disabled because I can no longer work and use my arms, you're having challenges."

Dr. John Kiluk, a breast cancer surgeon at the Moffitt Cancer Center in Tampa, Florida, said he's startled by the common threads among the group.

"The average breast cancer patient for males is about 70 years old," Kiluk said. "So when you have gentlemen in their 30s stepping forward, without a family history of breast cancer, that is alarming. And the question is, why? Why is this happening?"

As many as 500,000 people may have been exposed to the contaminated water over a period of 30 years, the Marine Corps said. Partain, Fontella, Devereaux and others CNN interviewed are all members of "The Few, The Proud, The Forgotten," which was set up to organize people who believe they have been affected by the contamination.

But in a written response to questions raised by the men, the Marine Corps told CNN that two studies have examined whether contaminated water led to illnesses among base personnel or their families.

"To date, these studies have not identified a link between exposure to the historically impacted water at Camp Lejeune and adverse health effects," the service said.

In addition, it said a 2004 review by the Marine Corps found the service followed existing water quality regulations. And investigations by the Bush administration's Justice Department and Environmental Protection Agency found no criminal conduct by Marine Corps officials and no violations of the Safe Drinking Water Act.

But Tyler Amon, an EPA investigator, told a House committee in 2007 that some employees interviewed during the criminal investigation appeared to have been coached and were not forthcoming with details. The Justice Department decided against filing charges based on his concern, however.

Parts of Camp Lejeune have been included on the EPA's Superfund list of contaminated sites. Benzene, one of the chemicals found in the water there, is classified as a known human carcinogen by the federal government, while the other two are listed as potential causes of cancer.

Frank Bove, an epidemiologist with the federal Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry, said the level of contamination in one sample taken at Camp Lejeune was "the highest I've ever seen in a public water system in this country." But, he added, "Whether exposures were long enough and high enough at Camp Lejeune to cause disease -- that's the question."

Researchers need to know more about where the men lived on the base, what kind of work they did, their medical histories and other details before reaching a conclusion, Bove said.

"We're not sure there's one common cause across all these cases," he said. "There may be several different causes."

The Marines Corps said it has worked with environmental and health agencies "from the beginning" to determine whether the contamination resulted in any illness, and "this collaboration continues to the present day."

But so far, "collaboration" does not involve medical care for the stricken men, who say they are now facing a bureaucratic Catch-22: The Marine Corps sends them to the Department of Veterans Affairs, which says it can't treat the men for a condition that hasn't been shown to have been "service-related."

"How could they do this to me after I served the country faithfully?" retired Marine Rick Kelly told CNN. "How could they do this to my fellow Marines?"

http://www.cnn.com/2009/HEALTH/09/24/ma ... newssearch

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Poisoned patriots? Stricken Marines seek help with illnesses


By Abbie Boudreau and Scott Bronstein
CNN Special Investigations Unit
September 25, 2009


Editor's note: This report is part two of a two-part series

Story Highlights

•Marines, Camp Lejeune residents seek $34 billion in compensation for health woes

•They allege drinking water at the base was contaminated in 1960s through 1980s

•Experts in 1980 concluded some base tap water was "highly contaminated"

•VA won't cover costs of illness; "I feel like I've been betrayed," ex-drill instructor says


TAMPA, Florida (CNN) -- For Rick Kelly, the first sign of cancer was a feeling of discomfort in his chest.

"My wife would hug me, and it became almost unbearable," he said. "I went to a doctor, and they sent me to the oncologist, and they did biopsies on both sides. And then I ended up with a double mastectomy."

Kelly is one of 20 retired U.S. Marines or sons of Marines who once lived at Camp Lejeune, North Carolina, and who are now suffering from breast cancer, a disease that strikes about one man for every 100 women who get it. Each of the seven men CNN interviewed for this report has had part of his chest removed as part of his treatment, along with chemotherapy, radiation or both.

All 20 fear that water contaminated with high levels of toxic chemicals may have caused their illnesses, but the Marine Corps says no link has been found between the contamination and their diseases. Without that link, the men are denied treatment by the Department of Veterans Affairs, which says it can't treat them for a condition that hasn't been shown to have been "service-related." Watch "That's when I was shocked" »

Kelly was diagnosed with breast cancer in 1998, 16 years after he served at Camp Lejeune. Now a single father of a 7-year-old boy and without health insurance, he filed a claim with the VA to help pay his medical bills.

Kelly said his VA representative told him, "It's not the VA's problem, it's the Marine Corps' problem." Watch Marine Corps general respond to some of the allegations »

And Peter Devereaux, who was stationed at Camp Lejeune in the early 1980s, was told in writing that his breast cancer "neither occurred in nor was caused by service."

But Kelly, Devereaux and other stricken men CNN interviewed say the Marine Corps knew about the contamination in tap water years before it shut down tainted wells in the mid-1980s. Now they want the service to acknowledge that the water from those wells made them sick, which could make them eligible for VA benefits.

"They want it to go away, and it kind of just makes you sick with disgust," Devereaux said.

The men with breast cancer are among about 1,600 retired Marines and Camp Lejeune residents who have filed claims against the federal government. According to congressional investigators, they are seeking nearly $34 billion in compensation for health problems they say stemmed from drinking water at the base that was contaminated with several toxic chemicals, including some the federal government has classified as known or potential cancer-causing agents.

Jerry Ensminger is a former Marine Corps drill instructor who was stationed at the base in 1976, when his daughter, Janey, was born. She died of childhood leukemia at age 9.

"We were being exposed when we went bowling," Ensminger told CNN. "We were being exposed when we went to the commissary. We were being exposed when we went to the PX. And then when we went home, we were being exposed over there."

Ensminger helped start a Web site, "The Few, The Proud, The Forgotten," which was set up to organize people who believe they have been affected by the contamination. He also testified at a 2007 congressional hearing on the issue.

He and others say the Marine Corps waited too long to test and shut down the wells after learning the drinking water was contaminated.

"Five years they knew they had this stuff in the tap water," Ensminger said. "They never went and tested the wells. I think it's just criminal."

In 1980, the Navy hired experts to test for trihalomethanes, a byproduct from chlorination, in the base tap water. The experts reported that some of the base tap water was "highly contaminated," according to a test report.

In 1981, the lab again found "water highly contaminated" -- and added the word "solvents," with an exclamation point. In August 1982, the experts found one sample with levels of trichloroethylene, a degreaser believed to cause cancer, of 1,400 parts per billion. Today's EPA safe level for the substance is five parts per billion.

"We've never seen 1,400 parts per billion of trichloroethylene, so that is very high," said Frank Bove, an epidemiologist with the federal Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry.

"These are very toxic chemicals we're talking about," Bove said.

But it would take until late 1984 and early 1985 for the Corps to begin widespread testing of wells on the base and shutting down ones that had been polluted. In addition to trichloroethylene, chemicals eventually identified in the drinking water included benzene, which the federal government identifies as a known cancer-causing agent; and the dry-cleaning solvent perchloroethylene, a suspected carcinogen.

The Marine Corps said two independent studies have found no link between water contamination and later illnesses. And in a statement to CNN, the Marine Corps wrote, "Once impacted wells were identified, they were promptly removed from service."

A fact-finding panel created by the Corps in 2004 ruled that officials acted properly and that the water was "consistent with general industry practices" at the time. And investigations by the Bush administration's Justice Department and Environmental Protection Agency found no criminal conduct by Marine Corps officials and no violations of the Safe Drinking Water Act.

Tyler Amon, an EPA investigator, told a House committee in 2007 that some employees interviewed during the criminal investigation appeared coached and were not forthcoming with details. The Justice Department decided against filing charges based on his concern, however.

The Corps told CNN that its actions "must be considered in the context of the state of science at the time" and should be viewed with a "contemporary understanding" of the chemicals involved and the "evolving regulatory structure" of the time.

But while chemical solvents may not have been tightly regulated back then, there was a clear general awareness on base about the need for proper handling.

In June 1974, the base commander issued an order calling for the "safe disposal" of organic solvents, warning that improper disposal could create "hazards" such as "contamination of drinking water." And as far back as 1963, the Navy's Bureau of Medicine outlined similar guidelines.

Two years ago, Congress ordered the Marine Corps to notify all Marines and their families who might have been exposed -- an estimated 500,000 people. The Marines say they have worked with environmental and health agencies "from the beginning" to determine whether the contamination resulted in any illness, and "this collaboration continues to the present day."

"I think if cancer of the breast in men or other kinds of cancer have been linked to this exposure, that we ought to know about that," said Richard Clapp, a nationally recognized epidemiologist who has studied clusters of cancer cases at toxic sites. "The families deserve that. The veterans themselves should know about that, and they should be compensated if the link can be made."

But for now, there is no proven link -- just Marines and their families who say they are suffering.

"Having been a former drill instructor where I trained over 2,000 brand new civilians and made them into Marines, I instilled in those Marines our motto, which is Semper Fidelis -- our slogan, that we take care of our own," Ensminger said.

"Nobody in this world has been more disillusioned than I've been. I feel like I've been betrayed."

http://www.cnn.com/2009/HEALTH/09/25/ma ... index.html

•VA won't cover costs of illness; "I feel like I've been betrayed," ex-drill instructor says


But the Gov't pays for illegals/anchors health care. Dis-graceful.

Originally Posted by ELE

•VA won't cover costs of illness; "I feel like I've been betrayed," ex-drill instructor says


But the Gov't pays for illegals/anchors health care. Dis-graceful.

Let me get this straight, you are FOR the health of soldiers, but not the general public? Do you not see what I have been trying to say?

Yes, true, I do care about the health of our soliders and the American people.

I stated that the Gov't pays for illegals/anchors but won't help our soldiers, yes, I think that's horrible. Our soliders should be treated with more respect.