Mar 14, 2012 - The retired Marine who believes contaminated water at Camp Lejeune caused his young daughter to die of leukemia told a U.S. Senate committee Tuesday that both science and victims will suffer if the military wins its fight to delete information from reports about the water.
The federal agency investigating the contamination "estimates that as many as 1 million people were exposed to horrendous levels of carcinogenic chemicals through their drinking water at Camp Lejeune," retired Marine Master Sgt. Jerry Ensminger of Elizabethtown told the U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee. "These people need the uncensored truth concerning their exposures so they can be more vigilant about their and their family's health."
Ensminger's daughter, Janey, died in 1985 of a rare form of leukemia. She was the only one of his four children conceived and born at Camp Lejeune. He learned of the water contamination 12 years after she died.
His testimony was part of a hearing about the larger issue of the public's right to know and the protection of information about critical infrastucture. The committee's chair, Sen. Patrick Leahy, D-Vt., chose to discuss the subject during National Sunshine Week, which is dedicated to marking the importance of freedom of information laws.
Leahy said he would be sure that Ensminger's testimony didn't end at the committee. "We Vermonters are known sometimes as being pretty tenacious, and I will be," he said. read more>>>
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