Review of VA Clinical Guidance for the Health Conditions Identified by the Camp Lejeune Legislation

U.S. Marine Corps Base Camp Lejeune covers about 156,000 acres in eastern North Carolina, and at any given time is home to about 170,000 active-duty personnel, family members, retirees, and civilian employees who live on base or in the surrounding community. Between 1957 and 1987, the groundwater at Camp Lejeune was inadvertently contaminated with chemicals, primarily industrial solvents. Many of these chemicals were later found to cause cancer and other health problems, although not all of them were recognized as toxic at the time of contamination. In 1980 trichloroethylene (TCE) and perchloroethylene (PCE, also called tetrachloroethylene), as well as other solvents, were first detected at Camp Lejeune in treated drinking water, and by 1987 the contaminated water wells were closed. In 1989, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) placed Camp Lejeune on the National Priorities List, also known as Superfund. It is estimated that between 500,000 and 1 million people may have used the contaminated water, and many of them continue to have concerns about the long-term health effects that might result from that exposure.