Marines drank tainted water for 30 years: CDC

[babylonsister]

http://www.reuters.com/article/healthNews/idUSTON30496520070613

Marines drank tainted water for 30 years: CDC
Tue Jun 12, 2007 9:23PM EDT


WASHINGTON (Reuters) - As many as 75,000 people may have drunk water contaminated by dry cleaning fluid at the U.S. Marine base at Camp Lejeune in North Carolina, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said on Tuesday.

The contamination lasted for 30 years until the affected wells were closed. Marines and their families drank the contaminated water during base assignments of an average of 2 years, the CDC said.

The water was polluted with tetrachloroethylene, also known as PCE, a dry cleaning solvent that has been linked with cancer, the CDC said.

"The Department of Health and Human Services has determined that PCE may be a carcinogen," the CDC said in a statement.

more...

[DS1]

1. I knew a guy whose arms and face were mostly puss bubbles

after working with that shit. He was a total fucking asshole, so he got no sympathy, but having that stuff in the drinking water is downright frightening.

[cal04]

2. Camp Lejeune Water Under Scrutiny

Thousands of Marine families who lived at Camp Lejeune in North Carolina over three decades drank and bathed in water contaminated with toxins as much as 40 times over today's safety standard.

The government on Tuesday disclosed results from a new study the same day lawmakers listened to emotional testimony from families about cancers and other illnesses they blame on tainted tapwater at the sprawling base.

Jerry Ensminger of White Lake, N.C., lost his 9-year-old daughter, Janey, to leukemia. He was a Marine for 24 years. He said toward the end of his daughter's life, she endured painful treatments.

``I held her and she screamed in my ear, 'Daddy, don't let them hurt me,''' he said. He said he reassured her: ``They're trying to help you.''

http://www.guardian.co.uk/worldlatest/story/0,,-6704769,00.html

[babylonsister]

4. Makes me wonder why the water wasn't tested? Duh? So sad. nt

[NNadir]

3. About 30% of the surface water in the US has measurable TCE.

My groundwater has it.