Therefore, not everyone who is exposed to trichloroethylene (TCE), tetrachloroethylene (PCE), benzene, or vinyl chloride exposure will develop a health problem.
ATSDR assessed 16 diseases in its document ATSDR Assessment of the Evidence for the Drinking Water Contaminants at Camp Lejeune and Specific Cancers and Other Diseases . This document combined the findings from ATSDR’s Camp Lejeune studies with findings from studies of other populations exposed occupationally or environmentally to TCE, PCE, vinyl chloride and benzene.
Listed below are the health effects where there is sufficient evidence for causation in people exposed occupationally or environmentally to the chemicals detected in the drinking water at Camp Lejeune. Evidence is considered sufficient for causation if there is 1) sufficient evidence from human studies in which chance and biases (including confounding) can be ruled out with reasonable confidence or 2) less than sufficient evidence from human studies but sufficient evidence in animal studies and strong evidence that the chemical acts through a relevant mechanism in humans.
Listed below are the health effects where the evidence is sufficient to conclude that a causal relationship is at least as likely as not, but not sufficient to conclude that a causal relationship exists (“equipoise and above”) in people exposed occupationally or environmentally to the chemicals detected in the drinking water at Camp Lejeune. In other words, equipoise and above means that there is enough research to support a link between the health effect and the exposure, but there is not enough research to definitively conclude that exposure causes the health effect. More research is needed to clearly show that the exposure causes the health effect.
Additionally, listed below are other health effects that have been linked to TCE, PCE, benzene, and/or vinyl chloride in populations other than Camp Lejeune who worked with and/or drank water contaminated with these chemicals. These links are based on studies with positive associations between exposures to these chemicals and development of health effects.
Findings from ATSDR’s health studies at Camp Lejeune are available at https://www.atsdr.cdc.gov/sites/lejeune/activities.html.
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