Some 1 million Marines, other workers, and their families stationed at North Carolina's Camp Lejeune between 1958 and 1987 drank, cooked with, and showered in toxic water; under a defense reauthorization bill amendment recently approved by the Senate, the U.S. Navy would be required to, um, let those people know. The federal government closed the base's wells in the mid-'80s after confirming they were contaminated with engine-degreasing and dry-cleaning solvents, and the feds are studying the link between the carcinogen-tainted water and the many reported instances of birth defects in children born to women who were exposed. No doubt the news needs to be spread, although apparently many people are already aware that they were sickened, as hundreds of lawsuits have already been filed against the military.

(Grist / The News & Observer, 03/10/2007)