Troops stationed at Camp Lejeune for even just a few months during the years 1975-85 are 70% more likely to suffer from Parkinson’s disease than troops who were at Camp Pendleton, Calif., according to findings from researchers who accounted for other factors in making their determination. Their report was published by the Journal of the American Medical Association. The VA-funded study was led by Dr. Samuel Goldman, a professor of medicine at the University of California, San Francisco Medical School and a staff physician at the San Francisco VA Medical Center.
The Departments of Defense and Veterans Affairs have acknowledged for years that troops based at Camp Lejeune and other North Carolina facilities from the early 1950s until the mid-1980s were exposed to a number of harmful chemicals in the drinking water, including the solvents benzene and trichloroethylene, which are linked to Parkinson’s.
Water processed for the base was contaminated by improper chemical-disposal procedures from an off-base dry cleaner, leaky underground storage tanks, industrial spills and other problems for decades, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. A million veterans and family members have been potentially affected, according to the federal Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry.
In 2012, legislation authorized healthcare for veterans and family members who served at Camp Lejeune. And in 2017, the Department of Veterans Affairs approved presumptive benefits for veterans, meaning that Camp Lejeune veterans who suffered from certain cancers or other conditions would automatically qualify for benefits and coverage.
Researchers studied more than 300,000 veteran records and accounted for other factors to come to their conclusion, according to the JAMA study.
Veterans affected by contaminated water can file lawsuits for harm caused by chemical exposure after the passage of a law last August that provided for new benefits and coverage for veterans exposed in combat and elsewhere to toxins. The PACT Act paved the way for the largest increase in veteran benefits in decades, and has led to hundreds of thousands of medical claims other than Camp Lejeune water issues.
