The Jacksonville Daily News reports that a panel of seven scientists met yesterday (Thurs) and will meet again today to discuss the potential for further study of Camp Lejeune contamination and its link to adverse health effects.

According to the report:

Some of the areas considered as focuses for further study include adult cancers and mortality, heart defects, frequency of hospital visits, neurological affects and autoimmune diseases [...and...] a variety of conditions in children who were in the womb during the contaminated years, including neural tube defects, oral clefs, childhood leukemia and non-Hodgkin's lymphoma, and a variety of heart defects. The independent panel was formed to further investigate the contamination of Camp Lejeune's water systems between 1968 and 1985 by the chemicals trichloroethylene (TCE) and tetrachloroethlyene (PCE), cleaning chemicals that leaked from a dry cleaning business on Lejeune Boulevard and into the drinking water for the Tarawa Terrace residential area and other areas of the base.

Panel members included Richard Maas, from the University of North Carolina at Asheville, and Dr. David Ozonoff, from the Boston University School of Public Health. Ozonoff, who has expressed concern over the EPA's handling of the TCE issue, shared this advice:

Ozonoff said he was especially worried about the [ATSDR's] inability to resolve the complaints of many people who were never notified of the contamination or who felt neglected by not being included in the [previous] study. "Let's face it, underlying this is an issue of trust," Ozonoff said. "While ATSDR has a long record of saying they help the community, there is a rocky history. You're going to have to figure out the trust issue."

Full article here. You can also find more information from the community group that has organized at Camp Lejeuene, THE STAND (Toxic Homefront Empowered Survivors Take All Necessary Defense).

Update: Not surprisingly, the Solvents Industry doesn't think further study is warranted. So much so, they issued this press release (warning: links directly to PDF doc)