#MIDDLEBURY
by Freddy Groves
The Department of Veterans Affairs is considering adding eight new presumptives to the Camp Lejeune toxic chemical exposure list, and it invites your input through Oct. 10.
This proposed rule would add eight service-related illnesses for those active duty, reserve and National Guard members who served at Camp Lejeune for a minimum of 30 days between Aug. 1, 1953, and Dec. 31, 1987. Those illnesses are: adult leukemia, aplastic anemia and other myelodysplastic syndromes, bladder cancer, kidney cancer, liver cancer, multiple myeloma, non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma and Parkinson’s disease.
Camp Lejeune was found in the 1980s to have toxic chemicals such as dry cleaning fluid, benzene and vinyl chloride in its water supply. The Hadnot Point and Tarawa Terrace wells had been used since the 1950s and affected tens of thousands of service personnel and their families. Veterans have suffered with Parkinson’s, multiple cancers (including kidney, breast, prostate), scleroderma, arthritis, respiratory illnesses, lymphoma, multiple myeloma and much more. The damage hasn’t been limited to those who lived at the base: Children born later have had multiple health problems as well as serious birth defects.
The VA wants to think about the additional presumptives and set up a 30-day comment period that will end Oct. 10, 2016. To add your comment, go here: www.regulations.gov, and put Camp Lejeune in the search box. Look for ID: VA-2016-VBA-0021-0001. To learn more about the Camp Lejeune water history, go here: www.tftptf.com.
On another note, if you need a routine hearing or vision appointment, by the end of the year you’ll no longer need to be referred by a primary care provider. The audiology and optometry departments will make your appointment directly. This program started as a pilot last year and was apparently successful enough that they’re bringing it to all VA medical centers by the end of 2016.
(c) 2016 King Features Synd. Inc.
