Documentary exposes injustice

From 1957 until the mid-1980s, more than a million civilian and military personnel serving and residing aboard the Marine Corps base at Camp Lejeune, N.C. were exposed to highly toxic levels of chemical contamination in the drinking water supply. These contaminants included the highly carcinogenic solvents trichloroethylene, polycholorethylene vinyl chloride and also benzene at concentrations vastly above what is considered a safe level for humans.

Even with full knowledge of the situation, the Marine Corps, the Navy Department and involved federal agencies did little or nothing at the time or since to address the issue of the effects that this exposure had on personnel and their families. The alarmingly high rate of birth defects, neurological defects and highly unusual incidence of male breast cancers have largely been ignored.

Many, including myself, have been in a long, ongoing struggle with Veterans Affairs to receive acknowledgment of the service connection, despite the VA's instructional documents admitting the connection between service at Camp Lejeune and the incidents of cancer.

A documentary will be presented on MSNBC at 9 p.m. Friday. Please watch and be aware of the injustices forced upon the fine Marines and sailors who were at Camp Lejeune. Also, follow comments on Facebook concerning the lack of action by House Veterans Affairs Committee chairman Rep. Jeff Miller at facebook.com/RepJeffMiller as well as learn more about this present day "agent orange" cover up on the website TFTPTF.com (the few, the proud, the forgotten). Thank you.

MICHAEL SPIES, Jackson