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6-1-2012

Petition to Help Camp Lejeune Marines and Families

Retired Marine Corps Drill Instructor Sgt. Jerry Ensminger has started a petition on Change.org asking the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) and Congress to provide medical care for the 200,000 people who lived on Camp Lejeune Marine Corps Base during the three decades that the base water supply was contaminated by cancer-causing chemicals.  Ensminger’s petition calls on VA Secretary Eric Shinseki, Rep. Jeff Miller (Fla.) and Sen. Patty Murray (Wash.), the respective chairs of the House and Senate Veterans Committees, to authorize the VA to provide medical care for the families who were stationed at Camp Lejeune between 1957-1987.  The contamination at the base has been well-documented and VA has yet to respond to calls for medical help for affected veterans and their families. Click here to sign the petition.

VA Secretary Shinseki recently declared it “premature” to provide healthcare to these veterans, prompting Murray, Miller and House and Senate VA Committee ranking members, Rep. Bob Filner (Calif.) and Sen. Richard Burr (N.C.) respectively, to send a letter asking President Obama to intervene on the matter. In part, the letter says, “There is enough scientific evidence already that warrants giving the benefit of the doubt to those who need help now.”

FRA supports the Janey Ensminger Act (H.R. 1742), sponsored by Rep. Brad Miller (N.C.), that authorizes VA health care for former veterans and military family members stationed at Camp Lejeune while the water was contaminated. Shipmates are urged to visit the FRA Action Center to ask their representative to support this legislation.

FRA addressed this issue in its testimony before the House and Senate Veterans Affairs Committees and the Camp Lejeune water problem is also the focus of this month’s feature story in FRA Today.