Marines blame N.C. base’s water for health ills

Elusive proof
At Camp Lejeune, the Marine Corps said in a written statement it gave U.S. health investigators “full access” to its records, including “vast and varied” documents, e-mails, maps, contracts and technical information. However, military lawyers acknowledged they are blocking plans for health officials to disclose some records publicly, citing privacy, legal and security concerns.

“We have always sought to provide a timely response to (health investigators’) requests for documents within our control,” the Marine Corps said.

Health officials repeatedly have complained about slow Defense responses to their information requests, correspondence shows. Military officials initially opposed a full study of child illnesses and balked for three years at paying for it, according to documents reviewed by The Associated Press.

A criminal investigation by the Environmental Protection Agency and Justice Department in 2005 at Camp Lejeune noted that federal rules limiting TCE and PCE in drinking water were not in effect until 1989 and 1992 — years after the exposure. The probe found no legal violation or conspiracy to conceal information.

Families are convinced drinking and bathing in the water made them sick, although proof is elusive. They are angry the wells ran for four years after the first sign of contamination in 1980 and 1981, and that the government hasn’t notified others who were likely exposed at Camp Lejeune.

Among revelations drawing new scrutiny from Washington: On four occasions to ease a temporary water shortage in 1985 the Marines quietly reopened one well at night even after they had shut it down because of contamination.

Former Marines gather evidence
Two former Marines, retired Master Sgt. Jerry Ensminger and retired Maj. Tom Townsend, have directed their grief into an encyclopedic collection of historical documents, hydrology data, e-mails and other military files they obtained mostly under the Freedom of Information Act. Townsend’s stack of papers reaches 20 feet.

Townsend’s infant son, Christopher, suffered a fatal heart malformation and other birth defects. By the time his wife of 52 years died of liver cirrhosis last year, Townsend was sure the water was to blame.

Ensminger’s wife was pregnant at Camp Lejeune in the 1970s. Their daughter, Janey, died in 1985 at age 9. He described taking dark-haired Janey to the hospital instead of her third-grade classroom, weeping as he watched her slip away. She told him to stop, that she loved him. She lapsed into a coma. She died that day.

“My question is how many more of these scenarios played out in private hospital rooms or in private rooms of people’s homes?” Ensminger asked.

PCE and TCE are believed to be carcinogens. TCE is a degreaser and PCE is used in dry cleaning. Studies link them to cancers and to kidney, liver and immune disorders, as well as childhood leukemia and neural tube defects.

Two earlier government health reports on Camp Lejeune underestimated how many base houses the contamination may have reached, documents show. The Marines failed to correct the error even when they reviewed the reports before publication. Townsend spotted the mistake and notified them in 2000, the Marine Corps acknowledged.

The Marines updated their Web site but never told federal health investigators, despite repeated urging by a Marine headquarters environmental official.

“It is important to set the record straight,” Kelly Dreyer, the official, wrote in an e-mail to the base in 2000. Eventually, in 2003, Townsend and Ensminger notified the health agency, which is now revising one flawed study.

At a health meeting weeks ago in Atlanta, a former Marine air traffic controller, Jeff Byron, accused the military’s bureaucracy of hindering progress on health studies.

Contamination blamed for birth defects
Byron and his wife, Mary, wondered whether they might have prevented their two daughters’ litany of health problems, including an oral cleft birth defect, spinal disorder and a rare condition called aplastic anemia. Then they became convinced the water was at fault.

David J. Phillip / AP Former Navy Dr. Michael Gros sits in front of his daily medications at his Texas home. Gros, a former resident of the Marine base Camp Lejeune, suffers from a rare T-Cell lymphoma. His physician blames his disease on exposure to TCE, a solvent found in Camp Lejeune's tap water.

“When we moved into base housing, we thought we were moving into a safe environment,” Byron said.

Former Navy Dr. Mike Gros of Houston also is upset at the pace of the health investigations, which so far have focused on health risks to fetuses.

Gros lived with his family in a tidy two-story house near the Camp Lejeune hospital where he cared for women and babies in the early 1980s. Later, as a civilian physician, he was stunned to learn he suffers from a rare T-cell lymphoma, which his physician blames on exposure to TCE.

Gros’ weak immune system now keeps him home. His life revolves around his massive drug regimen. A federal appeals court recently rejected his bid to sue the government for contaminating him.

“They drag it out and by the time you get them all done, everybody would be dead anyway,” he said. “That’s the whole purpose of their delaying tactics and it’s succeeding.”

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