Many of the thousands of former Marines and family members exposed to toxins at Camp Lejeune, whose damage claims and lawsuits are currently frozen over procedural matters, are lauding a new federal study showing links to higher cancer rates that they say bolsters their cases.
The lengthy and unprecedented health study released last week by the Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry, a unit of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, looked at cancer incidence among military and civilian personnel who spent time at the base between 1953 and 1987. That’s when water supplies were contaminated with toxic chemicals from waste dumping, fuel spills and careless use of cleaning solvents.
The results confirm higher incidences of several types of cancer already suspected to be connected to the contamination — and other types not previously associated with it.
