DD: Dr. Portier, I was stationed at Camp Lejeune back in 1980 and 1982. Am I going to get one of your agency’s health surveys?
CP: Captain Dye, you would be on our list.
We’re sending 300,000 surveys to Marines, sailors and civilians who worked or lived at Camp Lejeune and Camp Pendleton from 1972 to 1985.
The surveys started going out in June, and they are going to keep being sent out through the fall.
We are hoping to have all the surveys returned to us by December.
DD: If the potential contamination was back then, why are you doing this survey now?
CP: Well, we’ve been working to try to learn about the potential of health effects at Camp Lejeune since the 1990s.
In 2008, President Bush signed the 2008 National Defense Authorization Act.
This requires ATSDR to develop a health survey of former Camp Lejeune residents and employees.
This survey may help scientists understand whether environmental and chemical exposures in the water supply at Camp Lejeune affect human health,
and will help answer questions from Marines and their families.
DD: What are the health risks that are involved? I mean, what are you really worried about?
CP: Well, over a 30 year period, anyone residing and working at Camp Lejeune may have been exposed.
Of the contaminants that we are looking at, trichloroethylene, or TCE, and tetrachloroethylene, or PCE, are suspected of being carcinogens, that cause cancer.
Benzene is a known carcinogen when people are exposed at high enough levels.
People are concerned about some of the diseases they are seeing in themselves or their friends and family that they think are related to exposures to these chemicals.
This survey will help us to give answers to those people.
DD: What about people who were stationed at Camp Lejeune or Camp Pendleton and didn’t live on base? Are they included in this survey?
CP: The survey includes Marines and sailors who served in units that resided at Camp Lejeune or Camp Pendleton.
So yes, they are included in the survey. The survey will ask where you lived, on or off base.
DD: Why all the detailed information?
CP: The more information we gather from Marines, sailors, their families, and civilians who return this survey,
the better we will be able to tell if the environmental and chemical exposures are related to any health effects, big or small.
The reason we are asking information about where you lived and worked is we are going to try to estimate how much chemical each person was exposed to.
We’ll compare that information with detailed health information and look to see if patterns emerge.
DD: That’s a lot to ask, I mean, how secure will the information be?
CP: The information provided in the survey is protected by several laws and will be kept private.
Information released to the public will only be summary information.
DD: So if it is about potential contamination at Camp Lejeune, why are you also sending surveys to people at Camp Pendleton?
CP: Dale, Marines and sailors tend to be a healthier than the general population.
We can’t compare the health of Marines and sailors with the health of the average American.
We needed to find other Marines to compare with the people who lived at Camp Lejeune.
In addition, by studying both bases, we can evaluate whether there are health benefits or concerns associated with being on any Marine base.
It’s very important that everyone from Camp Pendleton and Camp Lejeune who receives this survey fills it out and returns it to us.
DD: What sort of things does the survey ask?
CP: Oh, It will ask where you lived on base, when you lived there, and about your health and your life.
It will take about 45 minutes to fill out, it’s not that difficult.
DD: Doctor, I’m in good health, I mean, how big a threat are these things really?
CP: Well, we don’t know if or how the exposures at on base have affected people’s health.
What we do know is that this survey is very important to help answer that question.
We also know that the men and women who serve our country deserve our very best efforts to find out.
The more people who return the survey, the better answers we will have.
If you get a survey, please fill it out and return it.
DD: Dr. Portier, thanks very much. Appreciate it.
CP: Thank you very much.