Civilian Employees Suffered Along With US Marines Sickened By Camp Lejeune Tap Water
Civilians who were employed at Camp Lejeune from 1953 to 1987 and developed cancer may file a Camp Lejeune Justice Act Claim
Tuesday, August 16, 2022 - The recently enacted into law Camp Lejeune Justice Act covers civilian employees and their families, allowing them to file a Camp Lejeune Justice Act claim against the Marine Corps and the Federal government. People working on the base drank tap water daily they believed to be safe and have developed several types of cancer including but not limited to esophageal cancer and kidney cancer. According to the CDC, other cancer and disease that have occurred at higher than normal rates among Camp Lejeune civilian employees are "Cancers of the female breast, kidney, lung, oral cavity, prostate, and rectum, kidney disease, leukemias, multiple myeloma, and Parkinson's disease." All that may be necessary to file a claim is to contact a Camp Lejeune water attorney and be able to present medical evidence of a cancer diagnosis and employment records from the base proving employment. And not just adult civilian employees were harmed by the contaminated drinking water. Camp Lejune also provided daily facilities to hundreds of thousands of children under the age of 12 for both marine and civilian families. The base provided Child Development Centers, School Age Care Programs, and Family Child Care Homes for civilian families and servicemembers. The children of civilian employees may have developed cancer or other developmental disorders from being exposed to toxic Camp Lejeune drinking water and most families that have had a child die from cancer are just now learning of the cause.
From 1953 to 1987, the water system at Camp Lejeune was contaminated by volatile organic chemicals (VOCs) perchloroethylene or tetrachloroethylene, and also benzene. According to the CDC "The source of the contamination was the waste disposal practices at ABC One-Hour Cleaners, an off-base dry cleaning firm." According to the US Marine Corps, the tap water at U.S. Marine Corps Base Camp Lejeune, North Carolina is now safe to drink and has been that way since 1986. In 1986, the two most contaminated water treatment facilities at Hadnot and Tarawa Terrace were shut down and the drinking water cancer problem was presumably contained. From 1953 to 1987 millions of US Marines, civilian employees, and family members passed through the base.
The Marine Corps has lied to people living and working at Camp Lejeune in the past and just because the government says that the Camp Lejeune water is safe is no reason to believe them. Civilian families should monitor their young children for the earliest possible sign of leukemia or other cancer. Those signals could be extreme tiredness, lack of appetite and weight loss, lethargy while awake, and extreme achiness and overall pain. If you were a civilian Camp Lejeune employee at any time from 1953 to 1987 and have had a loved one die from cancer you should contact a Camp Lejeune water attorney to file a claim for lump-sum monetary compensation.
OnderLaw, LLC and The Overholt Law Firm, PC -