https://www.theepochtimes.com/...Fkxz2WGXi3Nx%2BB3%2B

A new analysis of U.S. service members has revealed that veterans who served at Marine Corps base Camp Lejeune face an elevated risk of Parkinson’s disease, potentially affecting millions of individuals.

A large-scale study published in JAMA Neurology involving nearly 350,000 Camp Lejeune veterans found that the risk of Parkinson’s disease was increased by 70 percent among Marines stationed at the North Carolina base between 1975 and 1985 compared to those stationed at Camp Pendleton in California.

The researchers attribute this heightened risk to the exposure of trichloroethylene, which was present in the water that the troops consumed, used for bathing, and employed in food preparation at Camp Lejeune.

Contamination Affected Families, Daycares
Camp Lejeune, the largest Marine Corps base in the United States, encompasses various military commands and training centers and additional facilities like daycare centers, schools, family housing areas, gyms, and a hospital.

In 1982, the Marine Corps discovered drinking water from two out of the eight water treatment plants on the base was contaminated with volatile organic compounds (VOCs). These chemicals are commonly found in petroleum fuels, hydraulic fluids, paint thinners, and dry cleaning agents.

The primary source of contamination was the Tarawa Terrace water treatment plant, which contained perchloroethylene (PCE) or tetrachloroethylene (TCE). This contamination resulted from improper waste disposal practices at the off-base dry cleaner, ABC One-Hour Cleaners.

According to the Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry, a federal public health agency, it is believed that exposures to TCE, PCE, vinyl chloride, and other contaminants in the water at Camp Lejeune likely increased the risk of cancers and other diseases. These diseases include kidney problems, multiple myeloma, leukemias, and adverse birth outcomes, affecting the health of all residents, including infants, children, civilian workers, and Marine and Navy personnel stationed at Camp Lejeune.

The recent study examined the health records of 172,128 veterans from Camp Lejeune and 168,361 from Camp Pendleton, all of whom had served for a minimum of three months between 1975 and 1985. Follow-up observations were conducted from Jan. 1, 1997, to Feb. 17, 2021.

Both groups exhibited similar demographic characteristics, with the majority being white men at an average age of 59.

The study revealed that out of the total participants, 430 veterans were diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease, with 279 cases from Camp Lejeune and 151 cases from Camp Pendleton. The analysis conducted by researchers determined that Camp Lejeune veterans faced a 70 percent higher risk of developing Parkinson’s disease than those stationed at a Marine Corps base without contaminated water.

The study also found that veterans without Parkinson’s disease had a significantly elevated risk for various prodromal features associated with Parkinson’s disease. These prodromal symptoms encompassed cognitive impairment and REM-sleep behavior disorder (RBD).

“The study’s findings suggest that the risk of PD (Parkinson’s disease) is higher in persons exposed to TCE and other VOCs in water four decades ago,” the researchers concluded. “Millions worldwide have been and continue to be exposed to this ubiquitous environmental contaminant.”

Marine Corps Delayed Addressing Issue for Decades
A 2010 House of Representatives Hearing noted that it took the Marine Corps over four years to close contaminated drinking water wells. It took an act of Congress 24 years later to make the military inform veterans of their exposure and potential health impacts.

The hearing also revealed that in 2010, the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) received 191 claims from Camp Lejeune veterans. Out of those, 15 to 16 cases were reviewed, and ultimately five to six veterans were granted claims where the VA determined their illnesses were likely caused by chemical exposures from Camp Lejeune drinking water.

TCE has long been associated with severe health outcomes and is banned in the European Union and two U.S. states (New York and Minnesota).

In a recent research article, Dr. Earl Ray Dorsey, professor of neurology at the University of Rochester, and colleagues called for a ban on TCE due to its links to multiple health problems, including Parkinson’s disease. “Through a literature review and seven illustrative cases, we postulate that this ubiquitous chemical is contributing to the global rise of PD (Parkinson’s disease) and that TCE is one of its invisible and highly preventable causes,” Dorsey and the team wrote.

Dorsey told The Epoch Times that the new study linking TCE exposure to toxic water at Camp Lejeune “certainly adds to” evidence of this chemical’s potential to cause harm. He also noted that a study conducted a decade ago found that twins with occupational/hobby exposure to TCE during World War II had a 500 percent increased risk of developing Parkinson’s disease compared to those who were not exposed.

“In addition, we know from laboratory studies [that] when you feed TCE to either mice or rats, they develop the clinical and pathological features of Parkinson’s disease,” he added.

Dorsey pointed out that TCE, along with other chemicals like paraquat, which are linked to Parkinson’s disease, affects the mitochondria, the energy-producing parts of cells damaged in Parkinson’s disease.

“So we now have increasingly good epidemiological evidence, good animal studies, all suggesting that TCE may be a real important cause of Parkinson’s,” he said.

When asked about the certainty of developing the degenerative neurological disorder due to TCE exposure, Dosey emphasized that, like in life, there are no guarantees in science.

He drew a parallel between smoking and lung cancer. “Only 10 percent of smokers get lung cancer, but that doesn’t detract away from the fact that smoking causes lung cancer,” he said. “So only a small minority of people who get exposed to TCE will develop Parkinson’s disease, but as you can see from the study, the risk is increased by 70 percent, [and] that’s likely an underestimate.”

Dorsey, co-author of “Ending Parkinson’s Disease,” says he believes the disease is preventable and is donating the proceeds from his book toward that goal. “Parkinson’s disease, the world’s fastest-growing brain disease—much of it may be preventable, and we now have really good evidence for what one of those preventable causes is,” he said. “If we, like other nations in Western Europe, ban this chemical, we can get closer to a day where Parkinson’s disease is increasingly rare, instead of increasingly common.”

I don't believe any claim by any medical organization or government entity in what has turned out to be nothing but a monumental money grab sanctioned by the Biden administration.

Those findings may very well reflect a truth, but the absolute saturation of the airwaves by ambulance-chasing lawyers has made me terminally cynical on the matter.

It's quite a trick, turning this tragedy into an obscenity.

quote:

Originally posted by parabellum:
I don't believe any claim by any medical organization or government entity in what has turned out to be nothing but a monumental money grab sanctioned by the Biden administration.

Those findings may very well reflect a truth, but the absolute saturation of the airwaves by ambulance-chasing lawyers has made me terminally cynical on the matter.

It's quite a trick, turning this tragedy into an obscenity.

I understand your skepticism, but this is already being addressed by the VA so it may have some validity.

https://www.publichealth.va.go...mp-lejeune/index.asp

Presumptive conditions for Camp Lejeune
VA has established a presumptive service connection for Veterans, Reservists, and National Guard members exposed to contaminants in the water supply at Camp Lejeune from August 1, 1953 through December 31, 1987 who later developed one of the following eight diseases:

Adult leukemia
Aplastic anemia and other myelodysplastic syndromes
Bladder cancer
Kidney cancer
Liver cancer
Multiple myeloma
Non-Hodgkin's lymphoma
Parkinson's disease
Presently, these conditions are the only ones for which there is sufficient scientific and medical evidence to support the creation of presumptions; however, VA will continue to review relevant information as it becomes available.

It is true that VA will presumptively grant compensation for certain conditions. Agent Orange claims from the 1960s are still be adjudicated.
If you are articulate and can gather your service records things will still take time.

quote:

Originally posted by parabellum:
I don't believe any claim by any medical organization or government entity in what has turned out to be nothing but a monumental money grab sanctioned by the Biden administration.

Those findings may very well reflect a truth, but the absolute saturation of the airwaves by ambulance-chasing lawyers has made me terminally cynical on the matter.

It's quite a trick, turning this tragedy into an obscenity.

I totally agree, trichloroethylene was used in automotive shops in parts cleaning tanks in the 70's mid 80's. I was exposed to it, no gloves, as well as many other techs.
If you really step back and look at those numbers, not that many were effected. Start with the initial total and the final amount.

I agree some have been exposed and deserve compensation, but I’m suspicious of the article coming out just before Memorial Day. Maybe by some lawyers to possibly taint a jury pool ?

quote:

Originally posted by jer830:
...taint a jury pool ?

First teabaggin' shyster I see with his pants off gets a nut punch.

Had an uncle (Vietnam vet) who recently died. He had developed Parkinson's which he and his wife claimed was from exposure at LeJeune.

While I certainly empathized with his plight, I have a hard time with claims like these. Here was a man who worked the trades and many other jobs over the span of 50+ years and was exposed to who knows what who knows when. Did he get it from his relatively short time there or from some other source? Or, perhaps, he just drew the short DNA straw.

If it can be proven that it was acquired there, and that there was negligence and/or malice, then yeah...they should pay. Otherwise? It sucks to be you. I don't think that we can go around and compensate every person for every bad thing that ever happened to them. Life is risky. Some of us make it through unscathed and some get screwed. It's just the way it is and always has been.

But then, how would the trial lawyers afford all those nice boats?

^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
It is not all lawyers. For many years the VA has had a compenation system for veterans. Vietnam vets waited years for just compensation for Agent Orange. The science was there years ago but some are now just getting compensation. Congress wrote the rules years ago on compensation. Some tweaking was allowed as you could no longer get drunk on base and injure yourself. I think the VA does a pretty good job in this department.
The PACT act is another story as to chemical exposure from burn pits. There are about 12 conditions that would result from burn pit exposure.

I had some involvement when this blew up back in the “aughts.”

Bottom line, shortly post-1990, the Department of the Navy knew about the groundwater contamination and did nothing to protect the Marines and their families on Legeune. It was all about avoiding the cleanup cost.

It’s like burn pit in Afghanistan and Iraq. Was it expedient? Yes. Cheap too. Was it a good idea? Not so much, and the exposed pay a health cost and everyone else a financial cost, all because of “the cheaps.”

quote:

Dosey emphasized that, like in life, there are no guarantees in science.

Uh, wait. You may just be bad at it.