Military looks for children hurt by PCE in water

Military looks for children hurt by PCE

in water

CAMP LEJEUNE, NC —An estimated 10,000 children born here from

1968 through 1985 may be at risk of cancer and birth defects

caused by drinking water containing dry-cleaning solvents.

The Marine Corps is trying to reach families stationed on the base,

whose water was contaminated with perchloroethylene and

trichloroethylene.

In 1998, the federal Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease

Registry (ATSDR) reported a possible link between the

contaminated water and birth defects. The agency wants to survey

the families to learn more about the long-term health effects of

exposure to volatile organic compounds in drinking water.

"The health and welfare of Marines and their families is very

important to us," said Col. Mike Lehnert, head of the Marine Corps'

Facilities and Services Division. "We have Marine families with

questions that cannot be answered unless the survey is completed,

so it is very important to us that we do everything possible to help

the ASTR reach as many of the former residents as we can."

According to the Associated Press, an Army team discovered the

pollution in 1980, but the affected wells were not taken out of use

until 1985. The government began contacting families last year.

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Edited from Tech Bank 11/03/2000