|
8 Oct 09
On the Record
Introductory Statement by Marine Corps Maj. Gen. Eugene G. Payne, Jr. to the U.S. Senate Committee on Veterans’ Affairs hearing: VA/DOD response to certain military exposures
Senator Akaka, Senator Burr, distinguished Members of the Committee; thank you for the opportunity to appear before you and participate in this hearing regarding past drinking water exposures at Marine Corps Base Camp Lejeune. My name is Major General Gray Payne and I am the Assistant Deputy Commandant for Installations and Logistics for Facilities. I am responsible for Marine Corps facilities and services issues on our installations, to include environmental protection.
The health and welfare of our Marines, Sailors, their families, and civilian workers are a top priority for the Marine Corps. The Marine Corps is and always has been a large family, and we all know people, including myself, who were stationed or worked at Marine Corps Base, Camp Lejeune during their military careers. The Marine Corps is deeply concerned with all the military and civilian families who are experiencing or have experienced any health issues and we understand that there are those who believe their health concerns may be a result of time spent at Camp Lejeune. The Marine Corps consists of war-fighters, and those who directly support war-fighters. We have no epidemiological experts, and accordingly we rely on the expertise of scientific organizations like the Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry (ATSDR) and the National Academies, National Research Council (NRC) to inform our understanding of this issue. We have provided over $14.5 million in funding and have exhausted countless man-hours in direct support of research initiatives. Unfortunately, the studies completed to date have not determined whether or not there is an association between the past contamination and adverse health effects. The most recently completed study, by the National Academies National Research Council, unfortunately concluded that it is likely that additional studies would still not produce answers regarding past exposures and adverse health effects. We would like nothing more than to have those hard questions answered.
We will continue to support and cooperate with the Department of Veterans Affairs, the ATSDR and the NRC in an effort to get answers for those of our Marine Corps family who may have been exposed to volatile organic compounds (VOC) in drinking water at Camp Lejeune.
I am available to answer any questions you may have.
|