At a glance
Details
Title: ATSDR Assessment of the Evidence for the Drinking Water Contaminants at Camp Lejeune and Specific Cancers and Other Diseases.
Subject of Planned Report: The ATSDR Report reviews the evidence for adverse health effects from drinking water contaminants at Camp Lejeune.
Purpose of Planned Report: The purpose of the assessment is to evaluate the strength of the evidence supporting causality of adverse health effects from exposures to contaminants. This includes trichloroethylene (TCE), tetrachloroethylene (PCE), and other contaminants that were present in the drinking water at U.S. Marine Corps Base Camp Lejeune from the 1950s through 1985.
Type of Dissemination: ISI
Timing of Review (including deferrals): August 2016
Type of Review (panel, individual or alternative procedure): Individual
Opportunities for the Public to Comment (how and when): No
Peer Reviewers Provided with Public Comments before the Review: No
Number of Reviewers: 4
Primary Disciplines or Expertise: toxicology, environmental health, cancer epidemiology
Reviewers Selected by (agency or designated outside organization): CDC/ATSDR
Public Nominations Requested for Reviewers: No
Reviewers
Academic and Professional Credentials
ScD
Current Position Title
Professor, Epidemiology
Organizational Affiliation(s)
School of Public Health, Boston University, Boston, Massachusetts
Areas of Expertise, Discipline, Relevant Experiences
Dr. Aschengrau has over 30 years of epidemiologic research on environmental pollution and related diseases, including the following:
- The relationship between drinking water contaminants and abnormal pregnancy outcomes
- Neurological disorders and cancer
- Impact of lead hazard reduction measures among inner-city children
- Birth defects and stillbirths following prenatal exposure to tetrachloroethylene-contaminated drinking water
Dr. Aschengrau has published a best-selling book on Essentials of Epidemiology in Public Health. He has served as a member of the Institute of Medicine Committee on Gulf War and Health. He has also served as a consultant to the Environmental Protection Agency, and an associate editor of the journal Environmental Health.
Recommended by Scientific/Professional
Society or General Public
Academic and Professional Credentials
Current Position Title
Consultant, biostatistics and toxicology
Organizational Affiliation(s)
Former health scientist at U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Occupational Safety and Health Administration, and Consumer Product Safety Commission
Areas of Expertise, Discipline, Relevant Experiences
Dr. Bayard has over 30 years of experience in biostatistics, epidemiology and quantitative risk assessment of toxic chemical hazards. This includes:
- Quantitative risk assessment process for cancer risk modeling
- Cancer risk assessments for over 20 chemicals, including dioxin, asbestos, methylene chloride, nickel and nickel compounds
- 1,3-butadiene
- Vinyl and vinylidene chloride
- Ethylene oxide
- Cadmium
Dr. Bayard has also taught risk assessment for the Pan American Health Organization and co-authored a World Health Organization report on health hazards of environmental tobacco smoke. He has conducted and analyzed studies on private well water quality, air pollution and respiratory health, lung cancer, children’s respiratory health, and others.
Recommended by Scientific/Professional
Society or General Public
Academic and Professional Credentials
MD
PhD
Current Position Title
Professor and Vice Chair
Organizational Affiliation(s)
Department of Epidemiology, School of Public Health and School of Medicine in the University of California (UCLA), Los Angeles CA
Areas of Expertise, Discipline, Relevant Experiences
Dr Ritz is a research expert on:
- The health effects of occupational and environmental toxins such as pesticides
- Ionizing radiation
- Air pollution on chronic diseases including neurodegenerative disorders (Parkinson’s disease)
- Cancers
- Adverse birth outcomes
- Asthma
For example, Dr. Ritz investigated the causes of cancer in chemical toxin and radiation exposed workers, the effects of air pollution on adverse birth outcomes. Additionally, she investigated asthma in children, and the long-term effects of pesticide exposures on Parkinson’s disease and cancers and many others.
Dr. Ritz is an expert in the use of geographic information system (GIS) modeling of environmental exposures including pesticide use and traffic related air pollution. She is also an expert in investigating the links between genetic susceptibility factors and environmental exposures in populations.
Recommended by Scientific/Professional
Society or General Public
Academic and Professional Credentials
Current Position Title
Scientist Emeritus
Organizational Affiliation(s)
National Cancer Institute, Division of Cancer Epidemiology & Genetics, Occupational and Environmental Epidemiology Branch
Areas of Expertise, Discipline, Relevant Experiences
Dr. Blair holds expertise in genetics, epidemiology and cancer. He has received many prestigious scientific awards including the following:
- NIH Director’s Award
- PHS Special Recognition Award
- NIH Merit Award
- John Goldsmith Award for Outstanding Contributions to Environmental Epidemiology from the International Society for Environmental Epidemiology
- NIH Director’s Award for the Deepwater Horizon Gulf Oil Spill Study
He has served on numerous review groups for IARC, EPA, and other agencies and organizations. Dr. Blair has authored more than 450 publications on occupational and environmental causes of cancer. His primary research experience focuses on:
- Evaluating cancer and other disease risks associated with agricultural exposures
- Chemicals in the workplace and the general environment
- Physical activity and disease
- Methodologic issues in occupational epidemiology
- Studies of under-investigated populations
Recommended by Scientific/Professional
Society or General Public
Charge to peer reviewers
- Are the individual disease tables sufficiently comprehensive to make our case or did we omit an important epidemiological study that should be included in the tables?
- Are we interpreting the epidemiological evidence and available toxicological information for each exposure-disease relationship appropriately? Particular emphasis on the mechanistic information provided for PCE and bladder cancer.
- For each exposure-disease relationship covered in our assessment, is the summary of the evidence and concluding classification sufficiently supported by the information provided in the disease table and the discussion that follows the table, or do we need to include additional information (e.g., findings from animal studies), to support our conclusion?
- Do you have any suggestions on how to strengthen our assessment of the evidence for any of the diseases evaluated (e.g., is their toxicological information that could be added to strengthen the assessment?)
This page was last updated on this date. Updates may include minor edits, image changes, or other modifications to page content.
The information on this page was last reviewed by subject matter experts to ensure accuracy.