Veterans Exposed to Chemicals Need to Know

(WASHINGTON D.C.) - For the life of me, I still don’t know why the Veteran Service Organizations (VSO’s) have not published the list of 130 military bases on the National Priority List (EPA Superfunds), the chemicals found by EPA and the health effects of exposure.

The EPA Superfund database is accessible from the internet and the health effects of exposure to many of the contaminants have been identified by the Agency for Toxic Substances Disease Registry (ATSDR).

Many vets have access to the internet from their own computers or from another family member. It’s not like this is classified information or any national security issues are in play.

What is at stake is the health of veterans. The health of veterans should be of paramount interest to all VSO’s. Veterans pay dues to their VSO’s to represent them and to protect their interests.

Not everyone who served on an EPA Superfund base was exposed to toxic chemicals. Publishing the EPA lists is not going to spread panic among veterans. We’re mature adults fully capable of making rational decisions about our health care needs.

DOD, the biggest owner of Superfund sites, has no interest in notifying veterans of their possible exposure to toxic chemicals nor is there a legal requirement for any government agency to notify veterans or Congressional interest in pursuing this.

I have personally sent emails or letters to the CEO’s of most of the major VSO’s, including the VFW, American Legion, Marine Corps League, Catholic War Vets, etc. Only the Catholic War Vets agreed to notify their membership.

Am I going to cancel my membership to the American Legion and the Marine Corps League? No. But, I’d like to think that the CEO’s of these organizations would demonstrate a personal interest in the health care of their memberships by publishing this information.

What’s the big deal? We pay dues to VSO’s to represent our interests. I’m betting that most vets have no idea that bases they served on are now EPA Superfund sites. A number may have been exposed to deadly contaminants, are now sick, and have never connected the dots to military service. Putting aside the VA disability claim issue, these men (mostly) need to know what chemicals they were exposed to so their doctors can provide an effective treatment plan. Keeping them in the dark is definitely not helpful. DOD is not going to tell them anything. If I didn’t know better, I’d think the VSO’s are working for DOD, not for their memberships.

For every military base on the National Priority List (Superfunds), EPA lists the chemicals found in the soil and groundwater that are an “unacceptable risk” to humans and the environment. This information is not classified. It’s not a secret. Every veteran who served on an EPA Superfund needs to know what chemcials he or she may have been exposed to and the health effects of exposure.

EPA’s Contaminants of Concern (COC’s) “are the chemical substances found at the site that the EPA has determined pose an unacceptable risk to human health or the environment. These are the substances that are addressed by cleanup actions at the site.”

“ Identifying COC’s is a process where the EPA identifies people and ecological resources that could be exposed to contamination found at the site, determines the amount and type of contaminants present, and identifies the possible negative human health or ecological effects that could result from contact with the contaminants.”

A link to the list of COC’s is shown on the first page of each EPA Superfund website under the caption, “view contaminants of concern at this site.”

For example, the health effects from exposure to a particular COC at MCAS El Toro, an EPA Superfund base, can be obtained by clinking on the ATSDR Profile next to the COC as shown below.

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Bob O’Dowd is a former U.S. Marine with thirty years of experience on the east coast as an auditor, accountant, and financial manager with the Federal government. Originally from Pennsylvania, he enlisted in the Marine Corps at age 19, served in the 1st, 3rd, and 4th Marine Aircraft Wings in 52 months of active duty in the 1960s. This subject is where Bob intersected with Salem-News.com. Bob served in the exact same Marine Aviation Squadron that Salem-News founder Tim King served in, twenty years earlier. With their combined on-site knowledge and research ability, Bob and Tim and a handful of other ex-Marines, have put the contamination of MCAS El Toro on the map. El Toro, a Superfund site, was closed in ’99, and most of the former base sold by the Navy at a public auction in ’05. The base is highly contaminated with organic solvents like trichloroethelyne (TCE) and other chemicals of concern. No veteran, dependent or civilian employee was informed of their possible exposure to toxic chemicals and their health effects. You can email Bob O’Dowd, Salem-News.com Environmental and Military Reporter, at this address: mwsg37.com. You can email Bob O’Dowd, Salem-News.com Environmental and Military Reporter, at this address: consults03@comcast.net

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Anonymous October 24, 2010 2:47 pm (Pacific time)

Good article..thanks..lets not forget the depleted uranium, PTSD, and others. Iraq, Afghanistan, and Pakistan were no threat to this country. Now that the U.S. has invaded all these countries, for no reason but total control, which is an impossible task, the U.S. security is now threatened..You cant kill hundreds of thousands of innocent people, and not expect retaliation. The U.S. wars have made the U.S. more threatened thru their wars, than before they started them. Your tax dollars at work. As Gerald Celente says..bombs, bullets and banks. harvard, yale and princeton. The destruction of this country.

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Veterans Exposed to Chemicals Need to Know

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