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Congress wants answers on health impacts of Japan disaster relief
http://www.stripes.com/congress-wants-answers-on-health-impacts-of-japan-disaster-relief-1.263843
Congress wants answers on health impacts of Japan disaster relief
By Matthew M. Burke
Stars and Stripes
Published: January 27, 2014
SASEBO NAVAL BASE, Japan — Congress has instructed the Defense Department to launch an inquiry into potential health impacts on Navy first-responders from Japan’s March 2011 earthquake, tsunami and nuclear disaster.
The request, made in the explanatory statement from the House that accompanied the fiscal 2014 budget bill that passed Congress this month, comes as a growing number of sailors and Marines have joined a lawsuit against Tokyo Electric Power Co.
<snip>
The statement gives Assistant Secretary of Defense for Health Affairs Dr. Jonathan Woodson until April 15 to ...
<snip>
The original eight complainants were on the USS Ronald Reagan, but the suit has since expanded to include those who served aboard the USS Essex and USS Germantown as well as attached Marines.
<snip>
The statement directs Secretary of the Navy Ray Mabus to ...
<snip>
Lawyers for the plaintiffs praised Congress for looking into the issue.
“It feels like maybe there’s light at the end of the tunnel,” Paul Garner, lawyer for the plaintiffs, said. “But we shall see.”
<snip>
Sailors who were onboard the Reagan have claimed that they were drinking contaminated desalinated seawater and bathing in it until the ship’s leadership came over the public address system and told them to stop because it was contaminated. They claim the ventilation system was also contaminated. Furthermore, some claim they were pressured into signing forms confirming they had been given iodine pills when none had been provided.
<snip>
Congress wants answers on health impacts of Japan disaster relief
By Matthew M. Burke
Stars and Stripes
Published: January 27, 2014
SASEBO NAVAL BASE, Japan — Congress has instructed the Defense Department to launch an inquiry into potential health impacts on Navy first-responders from Japan’s March 2011 earthquake, tsunami and nuclear disaster.
The request, made in the explanatory statement from the House that accompanied the fiscal 2014 budget bill that passed Congress this month, comes as a growing number of sailors and Marines have joined a lawsuit against Tokyo Electric Power Co.
<snip>
The statement gives Assistant Secretary of Defense for Health Affairs Dr. Jonathan Woodson until April 15 to ...
<snip>
The original eight complainants were on the USS Ronald Reagan, but the suit has since expanded to include those who served aboard the USS Essex and USS Germantown as well as attached Marines.
<snip>
The statement directs Secretary of the Navy Ray Mabus to ...
<snip>
Lawyers for the plaintiffs praised Congress for looking into the issue.
“It feels like maybe there’s light at the end of the tunnel,” Paul Garner, lawyer for the plaintiffs, said. “But we shall see.”
<snip>
Sailors who were onboard the Reagan have claimed that they were drinking contaminated desalinated seawater and bathing in it until the ship’s leadership came over the public address system and told them to stop because it was contaminated. They claim the ventilation system was also contaminated. Furthermore, some claim they were pressured into signing forms confirming they had been given iodine pills when none had been provided.
<snip>
Via http://www.nukefree.org/stars-stripes-congress-awakens-us-sailors-fukushima-suit