Events
Public Lecture: Epidemiology, Public Policy and Toxic Water - Film Screening and Discussion
Thursday, February 23rd - 4:30pm-6:00pm
Bowl 2, Robertson Hall
Semper Fi: Always Faithful takes a personal look at a public health and environmental crisis. The documentary follows Jerry Ensminger, a retired Marine Corps drill instructor, who lost his daughter to leukemia in 1985. After he learns of the water contamination at Camp Lejeune, twelve years later, Ensminger embarks on a journey to expose one of the largest water contamination incidents in U.S. history.
It is estimated that nearly one million Marines and their families were exposed to high levels of carcinogens while they lived and worked at Camp Lejeune. The Marine Corps eventually closed the toxic wells, but never made the contamination public. Today, only a fraction of former residents know about their exposure. The film follows Ensminger’s personal and political campaign to uncover the truth, improve health care for those exposed, and change the environmental policies that threaten air and water quality in the United States.
Semper Fi: Always Faithful, directed by Rachel Libert and Tony Hardmon, premiered in 2011 at the Tribeca Film Festival and has won several Best Documentary and Audience Awards at festivals across the U.S.
Dr. Richard Clapp is environmental epidemiologist and Professor Emeritus of Environmental Health at Boston University’s School of Public Health and Adjunct Professor at University of Massachusetts-Lowell. He has been involved first-hand with the science and public policy surrounding Camp Lejeune since 2006 when he was asked to provide independent epidemiological advice to the National Academy of Sciences and the ATSDR’s Community Assistance Panel. His testimony to Congress helped ensure passage of the 1991 Agent Orange Act, which provides compensation to Vietnam veterans; he has suggested a similar response for Camp Lejeune veterans. Dr. Clapp has also served as a founding director of the Massachusetts Cancer Registry and pesticide health effects research in South Africa. He has an MPH from Harvard School of Public Health and a D.Sc. in Epidemiology from B.U. School of Public Health.
Joseph Amon is the director of the health and human rights division at Human Rights Watch. He joined the organization in 2005 as head of its HIV/AIDS program, having previously worked for more than 15 years conducting research, designing programs, and evaluating interventions related to HIV, malaria, hepatitis and Guinea Worm disease for the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and for projects funded by the US Agency for International Development. He has also served at the Carter Center and Walter Reed Army Institute of Research. Amon has a master's degree in tropical medicine and a Ph.D. in epidemiology.
Purcell Carson is an Academy Award-winning documentary editor and the editor of Semper Fi. She is based at the Woodrow Wilson School, where she is exploring the intersection of documentary, social issues research and public policy.