Citation Nr: 18149088
Decision Date: 11/08/18	Archive Date: 11/08/18

DOCKET NO. 16-40 764A
DATE:	November 8, 2018
ORDER
Service connection for a prostate condition due to Camp Lejeune contaminated water, is denied.
FINDING OF FACT
The Veteran has a benign prostate condition that does not qualify for presumptive service connection as a result of contaminated water at Camp Lejeune; and the evidence of record has not shown any correlation between his benign prostate condition and his active service.
CONCLUSION OF LAW
The criteria for service connection for a prostate condition, to include as due to Camp Lejeune contaminated water, have not been met.  38 U.S.C. §§ 1110, 1131 (West 2012); 38 C.F.R. §§ 3.303, 3.307, 3.309 (2017). 
REASONS AND BASES FOR FINDING AND CONCLUSION
The Veteran served on active duty from August 1974 to December 1974; and from January 1975 to January 1977.
This appeal comes before the Board of Veterans’ Appeals (Board) from a July 2014 rating decision of the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) Regional Office (RO) in Louisville, Kentucky.
Service Connection for a Prostate Condition
The Veteran asserts that service connection is warranted for prostate cancer due to contaminated water exposure at Camp Lejeune, North Carolina. 
VA regulations under 38 C.F.R. §§ 3.307 and 3.309 provide a presumption of service connection for certain diseases associated with contaminants in the base water supply at Camp Lejeune.  Prostate diseases are not among the diseases associated with such exposure.   
Service personnel records indicate that the Veteran served at Camp Lejeune for a period longer than the requisite 30 days.  The medical evidence does not show that the Veteran has prostate cancer.  Rather, post-service treatment records indicate that the Veteran has had a history of elevated prostate-specific antigen (PSA) levels, and that biopsies have been negative for malignancy.  Specifically, treatment records reflect a diagnosis of benign prostrate hypertrophy (non-cancerous enlarged prostate).  
Thus, given that a prostate condition has not been identified as one of the conditions that are presumptively associated with Camp Lejeune water contaminants, service connection cannot be granted on a presumptive basis.  38 C.F.R. §§ 3.307(a)(7), 3.309(f).
Alternatively, service connection may be established, on a direct basis, when the evidence shows that the disease was incurred during or aggravated by service, without regard to the statutory presumptions.  See Combee v. Brown, 34 F.3d 1039, 1043 – 44 (Fed. Cir. 1994).  However, the record has not shown any competent evidence of an in-service injury, illness, or event that may be causally related to the Veteran’s prostate condition.  Additionally, as noted above, the Veteran has not contended that his prostate condition is the result of a disease, illness or injury that was incurred in or aggravated by service.  
Nonetheless, the Veteran’s claim was reviewed by a VA examiner in June 2014.  The VA examiner explained that although the evidence submitted showed elevated PSA levels for several years, which raises concerns for possible development of prostate cancer, this does not establish a diagnosis of prostate cancer without a positive biopsy.  The VA examiner also explained that the Veteran’s prostate condition was not caused by or a result of exposure to contaminated water at Camp Lejeune and that the medical-scientific studies did not establish any association.  
As the preponderance of the evidence is against the claim, it must be denied.   
 
M. Tenner
Veterans Law Judge
Board of Veterans’ Appeals
ATTORNEY FOR THE BOARD	V-N. Pratt, Associate Counsel