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| Mike Partain Photo © The Few, The Proud, The Forgotten |
Mike Partain, male breast cancer survivor and former resident of Camp Lejeune, is back in the news again. Tune in to CNN on Thursday and Friday night (September 24th and 25th) at 8 p.m. EST. That's when you can see a two-part special about the 22 men who developed male breast cancer - most likely as a result of having lived at and consumed water from the base's supply from 1957 to 1987.
Now I would think that the Marines would protect their own water supply, wouldn't you? But during the time in question, dry cleaning chemicals were dumped into at least two water distribution systems at Camp Lejeune. Many Marines, Sailors, their families and civilian employees have been affected by the contamination. We're talking about drinking water that contained Tetrachloroethylene, Trichloroethylene, Vinyl Chloride, Benzene, Toluene, Ethylbenzene, and Xylene. I wonder how anybody could stand to drink it, but perhaps it was a matter of people becoming accustomed to it over time. Trichloroethylene is used to degrease metal parts - my husband used to use it to clean broken tape recorders and VCRs when he worked in a repair shop. Benzene is used for lots of industrial processes, including petrochemical production. Xylene is a cleaning solvent - I used it to clean photostencils off of silk screens in college art classes. Toluene is used to make benzene and urethane - stuff that is used in paint, rubber, insulation, and golf balls. These things are commonly used in dry cleaning, and they do not belong in anyone's drinking water!
The Marine Corps still hasn't notified everyone who drank that water at Camp Lejeune - but the people who developed many kinds of cancer - including male breast cancer - as well as birth defects and miscarriages need to know, and to have their rights protected. These Marines are the folks that go out into danger to protect and defend this country - they should also be protected and treated well, and given the whole truth about their health risks.
Men have only a small amount of breast tissue, especially compared to women, so a man's lifetime risk of developing breast cancer is quite rare. In fact, only about 1% of all breast cancer cases are diagnosed in men. When men are diagnosed with breast cancer, it's usually later in life, not when they are just 39 - like Mike Partain - and not in clumps of 22, as at Camp Lejeune. We know that cancer gets started as the result of mutated DNA, but we don't always know what breaks a person's DNA, and why it doesn't repair itself. Our modern diet, lifestyle, and environment seems to play a part in contributing to a rise in cancers of all types. But what if all the people that were exposed to the water at Camp Lejeune could be identified, informed, and surveyed - so the full extent of the effects of this health disaster could be properly studied? Would it lead to a new discovery about the development of cancer?
Mike Partain learned of the water contamination almost by accident, after his diagnosis. Turns out the Marine Corps had known about these chemicals in the base water supply since 1980. Mike parents were consuming the contaminated water in 1967, when they were expecting him. He was a small baby, born with a persistent skin rash, and developed other health problems as he grew up. His parents, along with many other base residents, have developed more than the average number of health problems. Camp LeJeune's water supply was contaminated for 30 years. This preventable water problem and the resulting health disaster may have affected an estimated 800,000 to 1 million former Marines and their families. It takes my breath away!
To learn more about this, tune in to CNN on Thursday and Friday night (September 24th and 25th) at 8 p.m. EST to hear Campbell Brown reporting on this story. Feel outraged that the Marine Corps hid this from their own people for at least 27 years? Leave a comment below or visit this site - The Few, The Proud, The Forgotten - and join their Discussion Boards. Did you served or live onboard Camp LeJeune from 1957 and 1987? Contact the other survivors to register illness information, or learn how to join the fight for your health and legal rights. Meanwhile, let's thank Mike and others like him, who are standing up for the victims of this chemical contamination, and hope that somehow, we will all learn something worthwhile from this disaster.
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Thanks Pam,
There are still many questions left unanswered about what exactly happened at Camp Lejeune.
Unfortunately, we have been fighting this battle with one hand tied behind our back. Mistakes were made at Camp Lejeune and orders were not followed. What is worse is the fact that the leadership of the Marine Corps has compounded these mistakes by not being totally truthful on what they know and tell the public/media/Congress.
Over the past two years, we have been able to put together a disturbing picture of what happened at Camp Lejeune. This information came from the Marine Corps’ own documents. One of the more chilling discoveries we made was that the Marine Corps had their own hazardous material regulations and potable water standards which if followed, would have prevented most of the human exposures at Camp Lejeune. These regulations have yet to be publicly discussed and date back to 1963, Hopefully, Congress will step in and flush out the truth.
BTW, we do not yet have a begin date on the contamination at Hadnot Point. It was more than likely sometime in the early 1950’s. We are currently waiting on a water model from ATSDR to determine the estimated date.
Mike Partain
What a horrendous situation, made worse by cover-ups.
Coming from the military, this does not surprise me. Historically the military covers up — they pretend it didn’t happen as if, maybe, they won’t be held accountable, and won’t have to help pay for the treatment.
Think Agent Orange and Post Traumatic Stress Disorder… for starters.
Mike — I applaud you for your advocacy on behalf of your fellow Marines and residents of Camp LaJeune. It’s brave people like you who help bring these things to light – in hopes of fixing them, of course.
Upon returning from Nam in August of 1970, I was stationed at Camp Geiger. was the water system there also tainted? Within a month there, I fell asleep all the time even while marching and had the symptoms of narcolepsy/cataplexy. I was sent to Bethesda Naval Hospital and was there for four months past my enlistment, after which they said I was fit for active duty. I knew otherwise and knowing I couldn’t perform my duties as a Marine, I didn’t re-enlist. I began to put on weight quickly and within a few years, I was morbidly obese. My first son was born with cerebral palsy and my second son is mildly retarded. Have any of you Marines out there who were stationed at Lejeune during the period the water supply was contaminated been afflicted with similar ailments and were any of your children born with similar disabilities?
Semper Fi!
My husband was at Camp Lejeune in 1987, he was diagnosed 12/08 with Glioblastoma Multiforme Stage 4 brain cancer…. Could this be related?
Thank you for bringing this to the spotlight.. I will definitely add this to our long list of WHYS!
I wrote last fall to this marine and told of my similar story.I live in Tucson Az.near and army base that buried toxic waste in the 70’s.I taught on the south side of Tucson near where this was located. Ater about five years of living there,they announced it on the Tv that there was an undergound spill.There was a possibility that it could have entered the water table. The newspaper put the same article on page 39 and of course no one saw it.I never thought about it again,except for not drinking water there.Eight years from the point of comtamination,I found out that I had breast cancer.I also learned that there is a cancer cluster of about 1,000 people that have various cancers that live in the contaminated area.I also learned,that another cancer cluster was located in a base southeast of Tucson and they wouldn’t move on it until ten children were diagnosed.How many people have to die before people take things seriously!
My father, drafted marine/Vietnam Veteran, was at this camp and was just diagnosed with Stage 4 breast cancer. This story is a tragedy that is bound to keep impacting men and families.
As a Marine Corps Veteran who spent quite a few years either at LeJeune, or one of the satellite bases, I was unaware (as we all were back in the 80’s) that there was any problems at all with the water.
Now, almost 20 years later, I have been diagnosed with breast cancer at my local VA hospital. They are also testing me for testicular cancer.
I know it is probably too late for me, but those who served at LeJeune should have themselves checked out.
Semper Fi!
This is Friday the 24th and Saturday is the 25th. Somehow the dates and times are mixed up according to what i just read which states the 24th and 25th as Thursday and Friday. Guess I am out in the dark or will this air again with the right times and dates. I really looked forward in catching this as well as my friends and family since I was at Camp Lejeune as well back in 74 and 75 and have medical issues as well that I have listed on the few the proud and the forgotten web site which has helped quite a lot with the information being passed.
thanks and Semper Fi ?
My father, now 88, was stationed at Camp Lejeune as a reservist in the late 1950’s and early 1960’s. He has just been diagnosed with breast cancer.
I wanted to let anyone who is keeping track of the statistics to know this.
I’ve said that least 622030 times. The problem this like that is they are just too compilcated for the average bird, if you know what I mean