The ATSDR has delivered yet another report concluding that a contamination site poses "no apparent public health risk." Just toss it in the pile. Feel free to roll your eyes. (For those who don't know, ATSDR is notorious for producing these reports)

There is "no apparent public health risk" at the North Brunswick Township High School and its surrounding areas associated with the soil contamination found in 2003, according to a preliminary public health assessment.

Last Thursday, township officials and representatives from the New Jersey State Department of Health and Senior Services and the U.S. Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry held a meeting to discuss the remediation project that resulted from the expansion of the high school in 2003. The primary concern for the school, Veterans Park, Judd Elementary School, a PSE&G easement and six nearby residences was arsenic in surface soil, lead in settled dust and tetrachloroethylene (TCE) [sic] in groundwater.

In July 2003, waste material consisting of pharmaceutical and laboratory wastes, glass vials, bottles and an unidentified dark brown material were uncovered near and within the Oval area of the high school, which is where the current auditorium sits. It is believed that the site was used as a municipal dump between the 1940s and 1960s. Approximately 9,200 cubic yards of waste materials and soil were excavated and removed, according to the report.

Since that time, officials said 54 soil samples and 18 interior surface samples were taken from the high school, and 10 interior surface samples were collected from Judd, with follow-up tests conducted. The high school perimeter and football field, as well as the neighboring park and residences at block 143, lots 94.01 and 95.01 were also examined.

Although remediation is still needed at Veterans Park and efforts will continue to oversee and limit any possible groundwater and vapor contamination, the report states that there are no cancer or noncancer health risks associated with the project.

We note that the story seems to confuse TCE and PCE. It is not clear which of these is the contaminant of concern referenced above. No matter which it is, residents were reportedly suspicious of the report's findings:

One parent claimed his son "lived in the dirt" for 18 years as an athlete and developed a brain tumor, although he is not positive there is a correlation. A student noted that the epidemiology report is only calculated through 2001, but statistics may have changed through 2008. Another person mentioned that the cancer rates should be evaluated specific to the area surrounding the high school and not broadened out to the general population, since any health effects will involve North Brunswick.

Also, residents are concerned that there could have been inhalation of chemicals since the investigation and remediation phase began, and that sites that have not been remediated, such as the high school perimeter, the overused football field and Judd school, could have contaminants in the soil that become disturbed and loosened as time goes on. One parent is concerned that no additional testing was done at Judd before the current expansion and renovation project began.

Read the full story in the North Brunswick Sentinel (NJ).

Update: Strangely, the report above fails to mention that ATSDR conducted a separate public health assessment re: exposure to Arsenic and TCE at 3 nearby residences in 2005 (yeah, we confirmed the contaminant is TCE and not PCE). They reported TCE contamination in groundwater at levels up to 140 ppb, TCE in indoor air in homes at levels of 12μg/m3, and arsenic dust that coated indoor air surfaces. They concluded that past exposure posed a public health hazard and, at the time, ongoing exposure posed an indeterminate public health hazard.

We suspect we're going to be hearing more on this story. As always, we'll try to keep you psted.

The Daily Press (Hamptons Road, VA) reports:

A cancer-causing industrial solvent has been found coursing in huge levels through the water table under Naval Weapons Station Yorktown.

One test showed the trichloroethylene, or TCE, at 18,000 parts per billion, or ppb. A follow-up test put it at 3,900 ppb.

By a quirk of geology, the water table drains into Indian Field Creek, which flows directly into the York River.

Years after those tests, the TCE level is now 800 ppb. But the landfill thought to be creating the pollution has yet to be entirely cleaned up, despite the off-the-charts sample data.

TCE is just one of many serious pollution problems at the secretive Navy base. More than 30 polluted sites have been identified, and about half have been cleaned up.

Read more here.

Or check out EPA's NPL site narrative, ATSDR's Public Health Assessment (can you guess the conclusion?), or Virginia DEQ's site fact sheet [PDF, HTML].

As a result of Tuesday's press and hearing, we've received a number of emails from affected Marines and their families, all asking the same question: How can I learn more?

As we've posted previously, at least two websites have emerged that are run by former Camp Lejeune marines and their families:

• The Few, The Proud, The Forgotten
• THE STAND

Also, the attorneys at Anderson Weber & Pangia have agreed to represent exposure victims and their families in a lawsuit against the responsible parties. Certainly, they know much more about the situation. (Note: Those of you who arrived here looking for information about the Camp Lejeune class action lawsuit should contact them.)

Of course, the ATSDR maintains a Camp Lejeune website with answers to Frequently Asked Questions and the Marines have their own website as well (note: As of this posting, it appears the Marines website is offline - maybe too much CL traffic?).

In addition, we've been covering developments in the CL story for the past two years now. You can read our entire history of Camp Lejeune posts here (click link, keep scrolling down).

Finally, in case these links don't provide the necessary information, we are attempting to determine who is best positioned to field specific questions about CL and the water contamination there. We will either report back here, or email privately to those folks who have contacted us. To be alerted when we determine a better point of contact for Camp Lejeune information, please feel free to contact us directly.

June 14, 2007 Update: For folks looking to complete a Form 95 or looking for assistance with it, please see here.

The Camp Lejeune hearing begins tomorrow. You can watch/listen via webcast here. It appears the witness list for the hearing has been revised. The updated witness list includes:

Panel I

Mr. Jerome Ensminger
North Carolina

Dr. Mike Gross
Texas

Mr. Jeff Byron
Ohio

Panel II

United States Marine Corps

Major General Robert C. Dickerson, Jr.
Commanding General
PSC Box 20005
Camp Lejeune, NC 28542-0005

Accompanied by Ms. Kelley A. Dreyer
Environmental Restoration Program Manager
Headquarters, U.S. Marine Corps (I&L)
2 Navy Annex
Washington, DC 20380-1775

United States Navy

Ms. Pat Leonard
Director
Office of the Judge Advocate General
Claims, Investigations, & Tort Litigation (Code 15)
1322 Patterson Avenue, Suite 3000
Washington Navy Yard, DC 20374-5066

Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease registry

Thomas Sinks, Ph.D.
Deputy Director
National Center for Environmental Health/ATSD
Mail Stop E-28
1600 Clinton Road
Atlanta, GA 30333

Accompanied by Frank Bove, Sc.D.
Senior Epidimiologist (sic)
and
Morris Maslia
Environmental Engineer

Panel III

Mr. Peter J. Murtha
Director
Office of Criminal Enforcement, Forensics, and Training
Office of Enforcement and Compliance Assurance
U.S. Enviornmental Protection Agency
1200 Pennsylvanie Avenue, NW
Washington, DC 20460

Accompanied by Mr. Tyler Amon
Special Agent
Criminal Investigation Division

Mr. Franklin Hill
Director, Superfund Division
U.S. Environmental Protection Agency
Region 4
61 Forsyth Street, SW
Atlanta, GA 30303

Maria G. Crosse, Ph.D.
Director, Public Health and Military Health Care Issues
U.S. Government Accountability Office
441 G Street, NW, Room 5K21
Washington, DC 20548

NEWS RELEASE

Committee on Energy and Commerce
Rep. John D. Dingell, Chairman

For planning purposes: June 8, 2007

Contact: Jodi Seth 202-225-5735

MEDIA ADVISORY:

Oversight and Investigations Subcommittee Hearing on Contaminated Drinking Water at Camp Lejeune

The Subcommittee on Oversight and Investigations will hold a hearing on Tuesday, June 12, 2007, at 10:00 a.m. in room 2322 Rayburn House Office Building. The hearing is entitled Poisoned Patriots: Contaminated Drinking Water at Camp Lejeune.

The purpose of this hearing is to examine issues arising from the extensive, high-level contamination of drinking water at U.S. Marine Corps Base Camp Lejeune. This is the first of a series of hearings the Subcommittee plans to hold on environmental problems at Department of Defense (DOD) facilities.

The hearing will include testimony from former Marine Corps residents of Camp Lejeune who, along with their families, drank the contaminated water, cooked their food in it, and bathed in it. The Subcommittee will also receive testimony from the Government agencies involved in dealing with the contamination, assessing the adverse health effects, and investigating allegations of criminal violations of Federal law, including the Marine Corps, the Department of the Navy, ATSDR, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), and the Government Accountability Office (GAO).

WITNESS LIST

Panel I

Mr. Jerome Ensminger
North Carolina

Dr. Mike Gros
Texas

Mr. Jeff Byron
Ohio

Panel II

United States Marine Corps
Major General Robert C. Dickerson, Jr.
Commanding General
Accompanied by Ms. Kelly A. Dreyer
Environmental Restoration Program Manager
United States Navy

Ms. Pat Leonard Director
Office of The Judge Advocate General
Claims, Investigations, & Tort Litigation (Code 15)
Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry
Department of Health and Human Services

Thomas Sinks, Ph.D.
Deputy Director
National Center for Environmental Health/ATSDR
Accompanied by Frank Bove, Sc.D.
Senior Epidimiologist
and
Morris Maslia, P.E.
Environmental Engineer

On May 11, 2007, the U.S. Government Accountability Office released a controversial 75-page report entitled: Defense Health Care: Activities Related to Past Drinking Water Contamination at Marine Corps Base Camp Lejeune (GAO-07-276). While we intend to dig further into the report and discuss it here in the future, here is the official GAO summary (emphasis added by us):

In the early 1980s, volatile organic compounds (VOCs) were discovered in some of the water systems serving housing areas on Marine Corps Base Camp Lejeune. Exposure to certain VOCs may cause adverse health effects, including cancer. In 1999, the Department of Health and Human Services' (HHS) Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry (ATSDR) began a study to examine whether individuals who were exposed in utero to the contaminated drinking water are more likely to have developed certain childhood cancers or birth defects. ATSDR has projected a December 2007 completion date for the study. The National Defense Authorization Act of Fiscal Year 2005 required GAO to report on past drinking water contamination and related health effects at Camp Lejeune. In this report GAO describes (1) efforts to identify and address the past contamination, (2) activities resulting from concerns about possible adverse health effects and government actions related to the past contamination, and (3) the design of the current ATSDR study, including the study's population, time frame, selected health effects, and the reasonableness of the projected completion date. GAO reviewed documents, interviewed officials and former residents, and contracted with the National Academy of Sciences to convene an expert panel to assess the design of the current ATSDR study.

Efforts to identify and address the past drinking water contamination at Camp Lejeune began in the 1980s, when Navy water testing at Camp Lejeune detected VOCs in some base water systems. In 1982 and 1983, continued testing identified two VOCs--trichloroethylene (TCE), a metal degreaser, and tetrachloroethylene (PCE), a dry cleaning solvent--in two water systems that served base housing areas, Hadnot Point and Tarawa Terrace. In 1984 and 1985 a Navy environmental program identified VOCs, such as TCE and PCE, in some of the individual wells serving the Hadnot Point and Tarawa Terrace water systems. Ten wells were subsequently removed from service. Department of Defense (DOD) and North Carolina officials concluded that on- and off-base sources were likely to have caused the contamination. It has not been determined when contamination at Hadnot Point began. ATSDR has estimated that well contamination at Tarawa Terrace from an off-base dry cleaner began as early as 1957. Activities related to concerns about possible adverse health effects began in 1991, when ATSDR initiated a public health assessment evaluating the possible health risks from exposure to the contaminated drinking water. The health assessment was followed by two health studies, one of which is ongoing. While ATSDR did not always receive requested funding and experienced delays in receiving information from DOD for its Camp Lejeune-related work, ATSDR officials said this has not significantly delayed their work. Former residents and employees have filed about 750 claims against the federal government. Additionally, three federal inquiries into issues related to the contamination have been conducted--one by a Marine Corps-chartered panel and two by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). Members of the expert panel that the National Academy of Sciences convened generally agreed that many parameters of ATSDR's current study are appropriate, including the study population, the exposure time frame, and the selected health effects. ATSDR's study is examining whether individuals who were exposed in utero to the contaminated drinking water at Camp Lejeune between 1968 and 1985 were more likely to have specific birth defects or childhood cancers than those not exposed. DOD, EPA, and HHS provided technical comments on a draft of this report, which GAO incorporated where appropriate. Three members of an ATSDR community assistance panel for Camp Lejeune provided oral comments on issues such as other VOCs that have been detected at Camp Lejeune, and compensation, health benefits, and additional notification for former residents. GAO focused its review on TCE and PCE because they were identified by ATSDR as the chemicals of primary concern. GAO's report notes that other VOCs were detected. GAO incorporated the panel members' comments where appropriate, but some issues were beyond the scope of this report.

For the original summary, see here. To download the full report in PDF format, click here.

Direct link here. Also added as permanent link in the right column under Science/Agency sites (------>)

Update:

ATSDR's full Toxicological profile of TCE (1997) is here.

In the spirit of sharing and for research purposes, we'd like to make available any Public Health Assessments (PHA's) that have been drafted or completed and involve TCE (or related issues).

First up is the 2005 Final Public Health Assessment for Cheshire, CT (the self-proclaimed Bedding Plant Capital of CT) conducted by the ATSDR and the CT Department of Public Health. History of this PHA can be found at the Cancer in Cheshire website* (also a permanent member of our Community site links over to the right (---->). Findings include:

- The town's public water supply (serving just over 20,000 pople) suffered from 16-30 years of ongoing TCE contamination;
- TCE contamination found in the town's private water supply over past 20 yrs. No add'l sampling ordered. Past and current health risk unknown;
- Known contamination sites, discovered over 20 yrs ago, may still be contaminated;
- Cancer rates (multiple types) elevated with statistical significance and some with rising trends;
- Official conclusion: Past exposure to TCE in the public water supply presented No Apparent Public Health Hazard;
- No follow-up recommended.

You can download the full PHA here (FYI: This is an 8 MB pdf document).

If you have any PHA's that you would like to share, please contact us directly.

--

*Disclosure: I am a co-founder of the cancer in cheshire website and was petitioner of the ATSDR (which prompted the assessment above).

Since approximately 1993, the ATSDR has been tracking the health effects reported by discreet communities exposed to Trichloroethylene. Their National Exposure Registry (NER) basically tracks this kind of data for well-identified communities who have been exposed to it (there are myriad qualification requirements, I'm simplifying here).

The NER for TCE has some interesting data and discussion. It raises questions about elevated cancer findings among the TCE-exposed population. Unfortunately, the detailed comparison of cancer types by age/sex for the exposed population vs. the general population never actually appears in the reports (despite references to appendices with this data in 3 separate reporting years: 1994, 1996, and 1999). Maybe I just can't find it. To be sure, in May of 2004, I wrote the ATSDR to request the missing data/appendices. I received this response:

Mr. Fischbein:

The TCE Subregistry cancer outcomes analyses are slated to be released under a separate study. The results are not publically available at this time. Please do keep tabs on our publications for future releases.

I confess, I'm not sure what to make of this. If anybody has any thoughts, please let me know or feel free to use the comments feature below.