On “Rock Center with Brian Williams,” Dr. Nancy Snyderman investigated a potential link between contaminated drinking water and serious health effects at the Marine base at Camp LeJeune, North Carolina. In particular, Snyderman challenges the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention on why they failed to protect American citizen. The story focuses on a group of male breast cancer patients — former marines or children of marines who all lived at Camp Lejeune. The drinking water there was found to be the site of the worst contamination in US history — and yet the CDC had been sitting on data for years that potentially answered questions about whether that contamination was linked to breast cancer, leukemia, and certain serious birth defects. Snyderman’s pursuit of the truth put the CDC on the hot seat and lead an official to admit that they had, indeed, been waiting too long for the information. Shortly after the story aired, the CDC came forward with data supporting Snyderman’s investigative piece. As a result, several of the men featured were able to secure health benefits for themselves and their families, something that had alluded them after several attempts in previous years.
