Veterans Affairs processors in recent years mishandled more than one-third of all disability claims related to water contamination issues at Camp Lejeune in North Carolina, potentially cheating as many as 21,000 veterans out of financial compensation, a government watchdog said Thursday.

“In 1982, the level of trichloroethylene at Camp Lejeune was 280 times higher than the maximum permissible limit, while the level of perchloroethylene was 43 times greater than the safe limit. These chemicals are associated with a high risk of cancer and other conditions, so one can only imagine the damage prolonged environmental exposure to these agents can inflict on human health,” says Gregory Cade, toxic exposure attorney, and industrial hygienist.

Public Affairs Officer Lydia Delgado and Veterans Outreach Program Coordinator Jason Richards joined Good Day Rochester to discuss more about the PACT Act's impact on the veteran community and its key components.

The substance can be highly carcinogenic and can cause long-term health problems associated with the kidneys, the respiratory tract, and coordination. And consistent long-term exposure to PCE can raise the risk of developing certain types of cancer.

Included in the PACT Act is the Camp Lejeune Justice Act of 2022, which will allow veterans, families and other individuals who worked or lived for at least 30 days on the base from Aug. 1, 1953, to Dec. 31, 1987, to sue for harm and exposure to contaminated water.

I dedicated my life to the Marine Corps. For almost 25 years, I served this country and trained thousands of recruits. I spent nearly 12 years at Camp Lejeune, where my youngest daughter Janey was conceived. For the entirety of her first trimester—a crucial period for development—Janey’s mother unknowingly consumed water filled with known carcinogens such as trichloroethylene (TCE) and perchloroethylene (PCE).

We have five children and six grandchildren. Our oldest son, born at Lejeune, has two sons, both of whom have a blood clotting disorder.

“No longer can we ignore the wounds of war from toxic exposures. Veterans suffering from toxic exposures have been relying on a broken system cobbled together through decades of patchwork fixes that often leaves them without health care or benefits,” Sen. Moran said

Sens. Thom Tillis and Richard Burr voted Thursday against the bill they helped craft that would benefit veterans from Camp Lejeune who were exposed to toxic chemicals in the base’s water for nearly three decades.

Veterans try to convince the Veterans Administration that their post-service illnesses were linked to their time in the military.

In other areas on the base, waste was generated and discarded into empty lots, forests, roads, waterways, and makeshift dumps. That toxic waste was then taken by the Carolina rains and summer thunderstorms down toward sea level, into water wells, and into the barracks, houses, trailers, offices, and schools—and finally into the bodies of thousands of Marines and their families: into our cells, into our bones.