Health Survey (FAQs)

1. Why are you doing the health survey?
2. Who is being surveyed?/Who is eligible for the survey?
3. Why are you surveying former active duty and civilian workers from Camp Pendleton?
4. What conditions will the health survey ask about?
5. Why doesn't the survey ask about (particular condition)?
6. When will the health survey start?

1.fdfds Why are you doing the health survey?

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

2. Who is eligible for the survey?

Anyone who lived or worked at Camp Lejeune during the period of drinking water contamination is eligible for the survey.  ATSDR can’t identify all of these people from available records, thus we are sending the survey to the people we can identify. 

Persons included in Defense Manpower Data Center (DMDC) records will be included in the health survey:

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

People who took part in ATSDR’s 1999-2002 survey will also be included in this survey.

ATSDR will also mail surveys to people who requested a health survey by registering with the USMC by June 15, 2011. ATSDR is also sending surveys to a sample of former active duty and civilian workers from Camp Pendleton. 

3. Why are you surveying former active duty and civilian workers from Camp Pendleton?

We include a sample of former active duty and civilian workers from Camp Pendleton as a comparison group because of concerns that most people at Camp Lejeune may have come into contact with the contaminated drinking water.  Including a  comparison group unexposed to contaminated drinking water helps us separate possible health effects of exposure to the contaminated drinking water from health effects with other causes.  It is important that the comparison group is similar in all respects to the Marines and civilian workers at Camp Lejeune except for exposure to VOC-contaminated drinking water. 

4. What conditions will the health survey ask about?

The health survey will ask about cancers and other diseases that are thought to be related to exposure to the chemicals found in the drinking water at Camp Lejeune. These include:

• aplastic anemia
• bladder cancer
• brain cancer
• breast cancer
• cervical cancer
• endometriosis
• esophageal cancer
• generalized skin disorders
• Hodgkin’s disease
• infertility
• kidney cancers
• kidney diseases
• leukemia
• liver cancer
• liver disease
• lung cancer     
• lupus               
• motor neuron disease/Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS)
• multiple myeloma
• multiple sclerosis
• non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma
• pancreatic cancer
• Parkinson’s disease    
• scleroderma                                                    
• soft tissue sarcoma                 
• miscarriage

The survey will have space for people to report other diseases not mentioned in the survey. 

5. Why doesn't the survey ask about (particular condition)?

An epidemiologic survey cannot evaluate all diseases at once. A scientifically credible survey must limit its focus to diseases related to the exposure that can be confirmed. This way, the survey can produce useful and accurate data. The survey does provide a space for respondents to report health conditions that were not included in the survey.

6. When will the health survey start?

 A group of health surveys will be mailed out about every three weeks from June 2011 through December 2011. ATSDR expects to mail  more than 300,000 surveys. Sending the surveys in waves allows researchers to compile the data more efficiently than if all responses were returned at once.

7. Why didn’t I get a survey?

You may not have received a survey yet because the survey mailing process is not complete. ATSDR expects to mail more than 300,000 surveys altogether. A group of health surveys will be mailed out about every three weeks from June 2011 through December 2011. Sending the surveys in waves allows researchers to compile the data more efficiently than if all responses were returned at once.

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

• former active duty marines and sailors who were stationed at Camp Lejeune anytime during June 1975 and December 1985
• civilian employees who worked at the base anytime during December 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 requested a health survey by registering with the USMC by June 15, 2011

8. When will the survey results be available?

We expect to release the survey findings in early 2014. 
ATSDR will make survey results available through a web broadcast.  Survey participants will receive a summary of the final report.  The findings of the survey also will be published in a peer-reviewed scientific journal.

9. I am having problems with the on-line survey.  How can I get help?/I misplaced my hardcopy survey.  How can I get another one?

ATSDR has a help desk for the survey. You can call the Health Survey Information Line at 1-888-252-7048.