After 35 years of fighting a seemingly impossible battle, Marine Veterans and their families, who have suffered with numerous cancers, neurological diseases, and even miscarriages and deaths due to exposure to contaminated water on Camp Lejeune, received a glimmer of hope. In 2022, the Camp Lejeune Justice Act (CLJA) was signed into law as part of the PACT Act. The bipartisan bill was meant to eliminate burdensome red tape to ensure that those exposed to toxic chemicals could present their cases in court.
That was more than nine months ago, yet the Navy has not settled a single claim. Adding insult to injury, the Department of Justice, as evidenced in recent Camp Lejeune toxic water lawsuits, appears to be trying to shift culpability to the Veterans and their families who were unwittingly drinking, cooking with, and bathing in the contaminated water. The DOJ has gone as far as to state that the Veterans and their families might have “assumed the risk” that there was toxic water on base and that their exposure might have been caused by their own “negligence”.
This is an egregious claim, given the fact that the victims were poisoned by the government, and then the government hid and lied about the contamination for decades. It is clear the government is trying to outlast the aging affected population to avoid accountability. Not only did these families give the best years of their lives to serve this country – they were poisoned in the process. Affected Camp Lejeune Veterans and their families have suffered enough. Please help us fight for them. Call your Representative.
US House of Representatives Switchboard: (202) 224-3121
Read VSO Camp Lejeune Letter to VA Leadership
