"VA Says No Link Yet Between Water, Illnesses at Marine Base"

"WASHINGTON — In the decades that poisonous chemicals tainted the drinking water at Camp Lejeune, N.C., hundreds of thousands of Marines filed through the base, but so far, only 200 veterans have asked the Department of Veterans Affairs to link their illnesses to the poisons.

Of those, only 20 have been told 'yes.'

A Veterans Affairs official told Congress on Thursday that despite the evidence of widespread contamination of drinking water at Camp Lejeune, the agency doesn't think that the science yet exists to link exposure to the toxic water led to a host of cancers and other diseases suffered by former base residents."

Barbara Barrett reports for McClatchy Newspapers September 16, 2010.