WASHINGTON, Jan 12 (Reuters) - The Obama administration has agreed to provide disability benefits to military veterans exposed to contaminated drinking water while at Camp Lejeune in North Carolina, according to an official notice published on Thursday. The Associated Press, which first reported the story, said the estimated cost to taxpayers of the added benefits would total $2.2 billion over five years. The additional payments from the Department of Veterans Affairs would start in March and go to veterans who developed adult leukemia, aplastic anemia, bladder cancer, kidney cancer, liver cancer, multiple myeloma, non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma and Parkinson’s disease, the notice said. The department has estimated that up to 900,000 service members were potentially exposed to the tainted water at the base, the AP reported. Contaminants included the volatile organic compounds trichloroethylene, perchloroethylene, benzene and vinyl chloride.

Source: Huffington Post January 13, 2017 07:48 UTC