ATSDR Health Survey of Marine Corps Personnel and Civilians

ATSDR distributed the Health Survey of Marine Corps Personnel and Civilians in 2011, and expects to deliver results in 2014.

The results from this comprehensive survey will help us answer questions that Marines and their families have about their health. We will be able to help determine if contaminated water at Marine Corps Base Camp Lejeune may have affected people’s health. We will also be able to better learn how environmental and chemical exposures affect human health.

Not everyone who lived at Camp Lejeune or Pendleton received a survey. Even if you did not receive a survey, if you lived or worked at one of the bases during the time of the water contamination, the results will apply for you.

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)

1. Why are you doing the health survey?

On January 28, 2008, President Bush signed the 2008 National Defense Authorization Act. This required ATSDR to develop a health survey of persons possibly exposed to contaminated drinking water at Camp Lejeune.

2. Who was eligible for the survey?

Anyone who lived or worked at Camp Lejeune during the period of drinking water contamination was eligible for the survey. ATSDR couldn't identify all of these people from available records, so we sent the survey to the people we could identify.

People who received the survey included:

• former active duty marines and sailors who were stationed at Camp Lejeune anytime between April 1975 and December 1985
• civilian employees who worked at the base anytime between October 1972 nd December 1985

• People who took part in ATSDR’s 1999-2002 survey
• a sample of former active duty and civilian workers from Camp Pendleton
• people who requested a health survey by registering with the United States Marine Corps before June 30, 2011

3. Why did you survey former active duty and civilian workers from Camp Pendleton?

Active duty and civilians who worked at Camp Pendleton and Camp Lejeune are similar except for their exposures to chemicals in drinking water. The information from those who lived at Camp Pendleton allows us to compare the health experiences between these two groups. This will help us determine if contaminated drinking water at Camp Lejeune affected people’s health.
 

4. What conditions did the health survey ask about?

The health survey asked questions about more than twenty different cancers and other diseases. People also had space to report other diseases not mentioned in the survey.

5. When was the survey sent?

The surveys were mailed in 2011 and 2012.

6. Why didn’t I get a survey?

You may not have received a survey because you are not part of one of the groups included in the health survey. The following groups were included in the health survey:

• former active duty marines and sailors who were stationed at Camp Lejeune anytime during April 1975 and December 1985
• civilian employees who worked at the base anytime during October 1972 to December 1985
• people who took part in ATSDR’s 1999-2002 survey
• a sample of former active duty and civilian workers from Camp Pendleton
• people who registered with the USMC by June 30, 2011

Even if you did not receive a survey, if you lived or worked at one of the bases during this time, the results will apply to you.

7. When will the survey results be available?

The final report on the results from the ATSDR Health Survey of Marine Corps Personnel and Civilian Employees is currently undergoing agency review. We expect to release results in 2017. ATSDR will make survey results available through a variety of ways.

The ATSDR Health Survey of Marine Corps Personnel and Civilians asked questions about more than twenty different cancers and other diseases. Although we had hoped to release results from the survey sooner, the analysis was very complex and we needed to take the time to make sure that we were comprehensive.

Additional information about the survey

Health Survey Press Release

Read ATSDR’s press release about the survey launch.

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