No One Suffered More Than Camp Lejeune Mothers Who Gave Birth To Children Who Died

Water contamination not only put pregnant women's health at risk but also the lives of their unborn children

Sunday, December 25, 2022 - Women who were pregnant during their stay at Camp Lejeune in North Carolina may have suffered traumatic injuries and damages as a result of drinking contaminated tap water. Some are now filing Camp Lejeune water lawsuits seeking lump-sum monetary compensation. Women performed equally alongside their male counterparts at Camp Lejeune and soldiers and also with those from every branch of the armed services. Many women were married to Marines stationed on the base and raised their families there. Unfortunately, there were an abnormally high number of fertility issues, miscarriages, birth defects, and stillbirths. Since as early as 1953, Camp Lejeune tap water was contaminated with high levels of toxic, carcinogenic chemicals, including trichloroethylene (TCE) and tetrachloroethylene (PCE), both of which have been linked to an increased risk of birth defects, including stillbirths.

Studies show an increased risk of stillbirths and other adverse birth outcomes among children born at the base and vindicate women who experienced difficulties with their pregnancy and have waited for decades for answers. In 2009, The American Journal of Obstetrics and Gynecology concluded that women who lived at Camp Lejeune for at least one month during pregnancy had a significantly higher risk of stillbirth compared to women who did not live at the base. The risk of stillbirth was highest among women who lived at Camp Lejeune for the entire duration of their pregnancy. Several years later, The journal Environmental Health Perspectives discovered that children had an increased risk of birth defects among women who lived at Camp Lejeune if born during their first trimester of pregnancy. Experts have concluded that women who lived at Camp Lejeune while pregnant and drank contaminated tap water at the base also have an increased risk of experiencing stillbirths and other adverse birth outcomes.

Some are calling the water contamination problem at Camp Lejeune one of the greatest ecological disasters in US history. The US military is not only responsible for failing to regularly test the Camp Lejeune water supply for safety, but also failed to warn its residents once the contamination was discovered in the early 1980s. Camp Lejeune water contamination warranted a designation as a SuperFund site where the federal government has the authority to step in and demand changes be made. According to NationalGeographic.org, "Superfund is the common name given to the law called the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation and Liability Act of 1980, or CERCLA. Superfund is also the trust fund set up by Congress to handle emergency and hazardous waste sites needing long-term cleanup."Chemicals from military equipment degreasers, unlined on-base waste disposal sites, and now PFAS forever chemicals from firefighting foam are believed to have poisoned the local water supply. Millions of Americans and also members of NATO and allied forces have come to Camp Lejeune for training and have been exposed to the contaminants. Many military veterans suffer from or have died from kidney cancer and other diseases like Parkinson's disease from drinking the Camp Lejeune tap water. Sadly, as bad as the water contamination situation at Camp Lejeune may be, hundreds of other US military bases may have suffered the same fate or worse, and millions more people may have unknowingly drank, bathed in, and cooked with contaminated tap water.

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