After Decades-Long Wait, US Navy to Study Health Effects of Water Contamination at the Camp Lejeune Marine Corps Base in North Carolina.
We turn now to a story of environmental contamination that has been brewing for decades. Last week, the US Navy finally agreed to pay over $1.5 million to fund a study looking into the health effects of water contamination at the Camp Lejeune Marine Corps Base in North Carolina. The study could show a link between toxic water at the base and the illnesses and deaths of Marines and their family members over a thirty-year period from the late 1950s to the late 1980s. Thousands of Marines and their families who were stationed at Camp Lejeune have long complained of illnesses and deaths linked to exposure to toxic water. Health officials estimate that one million people were exposed to contaminated well water at the base before the main well was shut down in 1984. Ref. Source 5