What is the safe level of trichloroethylene (TCE) in drinking water?
The EPA has a maximum contaminant level (MCL) of 5 parts per billion.
The water at Camp Lejeune was up to 1,400 parts per billion.
In 2011 the U.S. EPA declared TCE was a known human carcinogen and established a maximum exposure level of 5 parts per billion in the drinking water. A May 1982 drinking water sample taken from Camp Lejeune’s Naval Hospital was found to contain TCE at 1,400 ppb.
Prolonged or repeated exposure to trichloroethylene may be associated with an increased risk of non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma and, possibly, liver cancer.
Sources: 1. ATSDR, What Are the U.S. Standards for Trichloroethylene Exposure? 2. ATSDR, Summary of the water contamination situation at Camp Lejeune 3. Cancer.gov
U.S. leaders FINALLY listened.
Read the powerful letters from Veterans Service Organizations to Chairman Smith and Ranking Member Rogers of the House Armed Services Committee, and Representatives Matthew Cartwright and Gregory Murphy on behalf of the U.S. House of Representatives.
Families were unknowingly drinking and bathing in poisonous water.
THEY CALL IT BABY HEAVEN
The contaminated water caused everything from cancer to Parkinson’s. It was so bad that there was a need for three burial grounds just off base — devoted to babies, to children. The one in Jacksonville, NC is called “Baby Heaven.”
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