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Web site raises profile of Atsugi health woes

JACKSONVILLE, N.C. — Shelly Parulis wondered if others suffered from unexplainable illnesses after being stationed at Naval Air Facility Atsugi, Japan, as she and her family did.

When she launched a Web site last week chock full of information, including health risk assessments, about the now-defunct Shinkampo Incinerator Complex, hundreds of e-mails flooded the site’s inbox.

Active-duty, retired and former sailors and Marines shared stories of their families’ health problems following time spent at Atsugi — kidney disease, cancer, neurological problems, intestinal problems and miscarriages, to name a few.

Whether those illnesses and diseases are directly linked to toxins emitted from the incinerator that sat near base housing, Parulis can’t say.

“It is kind of a validation,” said Parulis, the wife of a recently retired Marine master sergeant. “You know, at first, I just wanted the Navy to help my family.”

She said she’s had to fight to get the Navy to approve full health screenings for her husband, their two children and herself. Now, she wants others who have lived at Atsugi to be aware of the potential link to health problems.

In June, Navy Medicine tasked the Navy Environmental Health Center with conducting a health study of former Atsugi residents, according to a letter sent by Rear Adm. Karen Flaherty, the Navy’s senior health care executive, to Parulis on Sept. 13. Flaherty said the study’s results would be available in mid-2008.

But the study is limited to active-duty personnel, Parulis said, adding that she hopes awareness will prompt a greater response from the Navy.