A California military base is to be investigated after nearly a thousand soldiers stationed there contracted a rare blood cancer.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) announced plans to test drinking water in Fort Ord, Monterey Bay for contamination.
At least 40 dangerous chemicals have been detected in the base’s water, including trichlorethylene, or TCE, a “miracle” degreaser linked to several types of cancer.
Veteran victims say the Veterans Association has refused to offer them assistance, forcing them to work part-time jobs like porters while they are being treated or recovering from surgery. In the region, including Fort Ord, studies show veterans are one-third more likely to develop cancer.
Leaking petrol tanks and discarded ammunition at the site are feared to have contaminated local water supplies.
About 50,000 soldiers were stationed at the military base until the army began closing it down in 1994.
The area has since become a conservation area, but only after $250 million was spent clearing the site of debris.
Fort Ord in Monterey Bay, Calif., is having its water supply examined by the CDC because it claims its drinking water is contaminated. Pictured above is the base with a tarp over rubble warning it contains asbestos and lead
Fort Ord was home to approximately 35,000 troops until 1994 when the military began dismantling the base. It is now a nature reserve
Julie Akey, now 50, is one of nearly 1,000 soldiers who were at the scene but have since been diagnosed with blood cancer. She believes she got the cancer from contamination
The site is believed to have been contaminated after oil barrels spilled into the area
The CDC last Friday sent a letter to Democratic Congresswoman Katie Porter, who is leading oversight efforts on toxin pollution at the fort. She is also fighting to be re-elected to represent Orange County outside of Los Angeles.
Patrick Breysse, director of the CDC’s Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry (ATSDR), said in the letter that “there is enough data” to begin the investigation.
He wrote: ‘[There is] sufficient data and scientific rationale for ATSDR to reassess the health risks associated with historic drinking water exposures at Ford Ord.’
‘You never think you’ll have cancer by 46’: Veteran diagnosed with rare blood cancer after stint at Fort Ord
Julie Akey, now 50 years old, learned Arabic for the army at Fort Ord in 1996.
The then 25-year-old attended classes at the base, drank its water and even grew vegetables.
About two decades later, she was diagnosed with blood cancer, although there was no family history of the condition.
She became ill while working in Bogota, Colombia, as a translator for the State Department’s Foreign Service.
After doctors were unable to diagnose the mother of two’s illness, she was sent back to the United States.
After weeks at the Mayo Clinic, she was diagnosed with multiple myeloma at the age of 46.
She applied for help from the Veterans Department but was turned down.
She ended up working at a nearby airport while recovering from a bone marrow transplant.
“You never think you’re going to have cancer by the time you’re 46,” she said.
‘Why? Why am I getting this crazy cancer no one has heard of?’
She reviewed internships in Guyana, Ecuador, Nigeria, North Carolina, and Georgia—but eventually focused on Fort Ord.
Ms Porter asked for the probe in February, two days after an Associated Press probe found evidence of contamination.
Former Defense Secretary Leon Panetta today endorsed the study, saying the study is an important step forward.
“They were willing to serve their country and risk their lives, and because of their willingness to serve, I think we really owe it to them,” he said.
50-year-old Army veteran Julie Akey, who served at the base before being diagnosed with multiple myeloma in 2016, said she was “confident” that “science will prove our high rates of cancer and disease are no coincidence.”
Concerns about the base’s contamination were first raised in 1990, when the Environmental Protection Agency named it one of the most polluted sites in the United States.
It detected more than 40 “chemicals of concern,” including TCE.
Since then, studies have found that soldiers on the ground have cancer rates at least 35 percent higher than the general population.
The dots began to connect when Ms Akey started a Facebook group after being diagnosed with blood cancer in her 40s.
Since then, she has amassed many members, many of whom said they also contracted cancer at an unexpectedly early age.
However, officials continue to insist the base is secure.
The Department of Veterans Affairs told AP earlier this year that the contamination was “within acceptable safe levels.”
There is evidence that the army was aware of the contamination.
Previous reports show that TCE was found in Fort Ord’s wells 43 times from 1985 to 1994, with 18 tests showing it exceeded safe limits. However, nothing was done.
So far, the military has only acknowledged one contamination that led to cancer at one location: Camp Lejeune in North Carolina.
Epidemiologists found that military personnel there have a higher mortality rate from cancer, including leukemia, than others. Men contracted breast cancer, and women who served there and became pregnant were more likely to have babies with deformities.