Government says thousands became sick in making nuclear weapons
5.01 p.m. ET (2102 GMT) July 15, 1999
By H. Josef Hebert, Associated Press (Fox News On-line)
WASHINGTON (AP) — The government acknowledged for the first time Thursday that thousands of workers were made sick while making nuclear weapons and announced a plan to compensate many of them for medical care and lost wages.
Congress must still approve the compensation, which would end years of litigation over claims by the workers that they became sick while employed by private contractors at federal nuclear weapons facilities during the Cold War.
"The U.S. government is acknowledging that we made a mistake. ... We need to right this wrong,'' Energy Secretary Bill Richardson said, in announcing the compensation plan after years of government rejection of the health claims.
He was joined by nine members of Congress from some of the regions where many of the former weapons workers live or were employed. They promised to wage a bipartisan campaign to get the legislation approved this year.
"It will not be easy to craft and will not be easy to pass,'' Rep. Marcy Kaptur, D-Ohio, said. There remain disputes over how broad the compensation should be and how many workers should be covered.
The administration's plan would initially limit compensation to workers who became ill from exposure to beryllium, a chemical element that was used as a strengthening alloy in atomic weapons. The cost of such compensation was estimated at $13 million a year over 10 years.
But workers and their advocates have argued the program should be broadened to cover illnesses from other toxic and radioactive materials at weapons plants. They maintain that thousands of workers suffer from lung disease or cancers because of exposure to mercury, uranium, asbestos and other radioactive substances.
Beryllium, which causes a debilitating lung disease for which there is treatment but no cure, has been used historically at 20 Energy Department sites. The workers were largely in seven states: Colorado, Illinois, New Mexico, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Tennessee and Washington.
The Energy Department and other sources estimate 20,000 to 26,000 workers may have been exposed to beryllium at DOE sites over 50 years. There are believed to be 500 to 1,000 cases of the disease, officials said.
Richard Miller of the energy workers' union said the union will press Congress to broaden coverage beyond those workers exposed to beryllium. Several of the lawmakers at the news conference also said compensation needed to be expanded.
Richardson said the plan calls for the president's National Economic Council to examine compensation for other occupational illnesses related to the weapons program, including asbestosis and radiation-induced cancers. A report is expected next March.
Meanwhile, Richardson said financial assistant for workers made ill from beryllium was "long deserved and long overdue.'' Until now, the Energy Department had routinely opposed work- related illness claims from contractor employees, although several dozen lawsuits seeking compensation have been filed against the government.
The decision to reverse years of policy and make the workers eligible for federal compensation and marks the first time the federal government has acknowledged that nuclear weapons production caused illnesses in thousands of workers during the Cold War years.
"It signals a new era for the Department of Energy in its treatment of its workers,'' said Richardson.
"Many of the men and women who helped us win the Cold War worked in extremely sensitive conditions and were exposed to extremely hazardous substances,'' he said, adding that they should "not be punished with health care bills they can't pay.''
Under the administration's plan, workers found to eligible would be reimbursed medical costs, compensated for lost wages and given vocational assistance. As an option, they could take a $100,000 lump-sump benefit payment. In cases in which the worker has died, survivors' benefits would be provided, officials said.
The workers union and other advocates have argued for years that the Energy Department and its predecessor, the Atomic Energy Commission, provided insufficient safeguards and inadequate safety standards for workers involved in the production, manufacture and assembly of nuclear materials and weapons.
Although private contract employees made up the vast majority of the work force at these facilities, they are ineligible to apply for federal compensation. Nor are such illnesses normally covered by state workmen's compensation benefits.
Most of the workers with chronic beryllium disease were employed at Rocky Flats in Colorado, the Oak Ridge weapons complex in Tennessee, the Hanford reservation in Washington state, Los Alamos National Laboratory in New Mexico and the Argonne laboratory in Chicago, according to the Energy Department. Many of them also worked for private vendors in Pennsylvania and Ohio.
My sister's husband died 2 years ago at age 47 from cancer, and for 4 years before that they had been investigating this (very long story) He had worked at Westinghouse Betis Plant, Dept. of Energy, in McKeesport (Pgh, Pa.) in neculear glove boxes making rods. He was a private employee hired by Westinghouse with a government clearance, but yet wouldn't have been covered previously because he wasn't a government employee. What a bunch of crap - who do you think he was making the rods for? (sorry I'm going off into a vanity post)
Would appreciate any help, thanks so much, Karen
Here's another article for those interested.
APHA Supports DOE Occupational Illness Compensation Program
U.S. Newswire 15 Jul 13:05
American Public Health Association Supports DOE's Occupational Illness Compensation Program
To: National Desk, Health Care and Labor reporters
Contact: David Fouse, 202-777-2435, or Carole Zimmerman, 202-777-2434, both of the American Public Health Association; Web site: http://www.apha.org
WASHINGTON, July 15 /U.S. Newswire/ -- The American Public Health Association today announced its support for the Department of Energy's (DOE) proposal to establish an occupational illness compensation program for DOE's contract workers.
Many employees in the nation's nuclear weapons program during the past 50 years suffer illnesses related to exposure to radiation and extremely hazardous substances. For decades, DOE has opposed most worker health claims. Under the new plan, DOE would instead help improve workers' access to needed medical care.
"This proposal allows DOE to reverse its historic position of opposing claims of work-related illnesses, without exception," said Mohammad N. Akhter, M.D., M.P.H., executive director of the American Public Health Association. "We agree that it is now time for DOE to acknowledge its role in occupational illness and provide assistance where clear harm has been done. This plan will serve as a model for all federal agencies in promoting occupational health."
The program will provide immediate coverage for all current and former DOE contract workers with beryllium disease, including employees of companies who supplied the government with beryllium products. Inhalation of beryllium dust or particles causes both Chronic Beryllium Disease (CBD) -- a chronic, often disabling and sometimes fatal lung condition -- and beryllium sensitization, where a worker's immune system becomes allergic to the presence of beryllium in the body.
Under the administration's proposal, the president will appoint a task force that will develop a process to establish coverage for workers with other occupational illnesses, including asbestosis, silicosis and radiation-induced cancers.
The American Public Health Association is the oldest and largest organization of public health professionals and represents more than 50,000 members from more than 50 public health occupations.
/U.S. Newswire 202-347-2770/ 07/15 13:05 Copyright 1999, U.S. Newswire
Here's one article I just found:
Source: United States Department of Health and Human Services Publications
Beryllium: ATSDR public health statement
What is beryllium?
Pure beryllium is a hard grayish metal. Beryllium occurs naturally as a chemical component of certain kinds of rocks. Two kinds of mineral rocks, bertrandite and beryl, are mined commercially for the recovery of beryllium. Very pure gem-quality beryl is better known as either aquamarine (blue or blue-green) or emerald (green). Beryllium is also present in a variety of compounds.
Most of the beryllium ore that is mined is converted into metal alloys. Most of these alloys are used in the electronics field or in structural applications. Pure beryllium metal has applications in nuclear weapons and reactors, aircraft-satellite-space vehicle structures and instruments, X-ray transmission windows, and mirrors. Beryllium oxide is also manufactured from beryllium ores and is used to make specialty ceramics for electrical and high-technology applications.
How might I be exposed to beryllium?
Everyone is exposed to low levels of beryllium in the air that they breathe, in many foods and waters that are consumed, or through its natural occurrence in many soils. Most of the beryllium that can be inhaled is released into the air by the burning of coal or fuel oil. Beryllium occurs as an impurity in coal and fuel oil and is emitted into the air with the fly ash and dusts that escape through chimney stacks. Beryllium occurs naturally in various tobaccos and is inhaled during smoking. People who smoke cigarettes may breathe considerably more beryllium than people who do not smoke. Beryllium is present in many fruits and vegetables.
Beryllium metal and metal alloys may be found in consumer products such as electronic devices (e.g., televisions, calculators, and personal computers) and special nonsparking tools.
The greatest exposures to beryllium, mostly in the form of beryllium oxide, occur in the workplace. Occupational exposure to beryllium occurs at places where it is mined, processed, and converted into metal, alloys, and chemicals. People who live near these industries can also be exposed to small amounts.
Workers engaged in machining metals containing beryllium, in reclaiming beryllium from scrap alloys, or in using beryllium products will also be exposed occupationally. Beryllium can be transferred to individuals from workers' clothing. Most of what is known about how beryllium affects health is based on studies of workers.
How does beryllium get into my body?
Animal studies have shown that only small amounts of beryllium are absorbed after ingestion of beryllium or its compounds or after beryllium comes in contact with the skin, although physical contact with the skin is in itself sufficient to cause irritation. These studies have also shown that the most efficient way in which beryllium enters the body of an animal is inhaling particles of beryllium suspended in the air.
How can beryllium affect my health?
Beryllium is a toxic substance that can be harmful, depending on the amount and duration of exposure to it. Not all of the effects that beryllium and its compounds have on human health are well understood, and not all forms of beryllium are equally toxic. The primary organ that beryllium affects is the lung. Short-term human and animal exposure to high levels of soluble beryllium compounds can lead to the development of inflammation or reddening and swelling of the lungs, a condition known as Acute Beryllium Disease (similar to pneumonia). Removal from exposure results in a reversal of symptoms. Long-term exposure to beryllium or beryllium oxide at much lower levels has been reported to cause Chronic Beryllium Disease in sensitive individuals, characterized by shortness of breath, scarring of the lungs, and berylliosis (noncancerous growths in the lungs of humans). Both Acute and Chronic Beryllium Disease can be fatal, depending on the severity of the exposure. In addition, a skin allergy has been shown to develop when soluble beryllium compounds come in contact with the skin of sensitized individuals. Noncancerous growths that can ulcerate can form on the skin if beryllium enters cuts.
The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services has determined that beryllium and certain beryllium compounds may reasonably be anticipated to be carcinogens. Experiments with laboratory animals indicated that breathing beryllium and some of its compounds, both soluble and insoluble, causes lung cancer. No studies in animals or humans provided convincing evidence that the ingestion of beryllium or its compounds causes cancer.
is there a medical test to determine if I have been exposed to beryllium?
Beryllium levels can be measured in the urine and blood, but levels in the urine may be highly variable. Elevated levels in urine and blood indicate exposure but not necessarily disease. Another procedure involving the sampling of tissues (i.e., biopsy) may be performed so that beryllium levels can be measured in those tissues. There is a medical test, which involves the examination of cells that have been washed out of the lungs, to diagnose the condition of noncancerous growths in the lungs; however, this test cannot distinguish growths that were caused by beryllium (Chronic Beryllium Disease) from growths caused by other factors. A test in which lymphocytes (blood cells involved in immunity) are transformed in the presence of beryllium can definitively diagnose Chronic Beryllium Disease.
What levels of exposure have resulted in harmful health effects?
The graphs on the following pages show the relationship between exposure to beryllium and its compounds and known health effects. In the first set of graphs, labeled "Health effects from breathing beryllium and compounds," exposure is measured in milligrams of beryllium per cubic meter of air (mg/m[3]). In the second set of graphs, the same relationship is represented for the known "Health effects from ingesting beryllium and compounds." Exposures are measured in milligrams of beryllium per kilogram of body weight per day (mg/kg). In all graphs, effects in animals are shown on the left side, effects in humans on the right. There was insufficient information to graph exposure levels of beryllium that cause toxic effects from skin contact.
Short-term refers to exposures lasting 14 days or less, and long-term refers to exposures lasting for 15 days or more. The levels marked on the graphs as anticipated to be associated with minimal risk for effects other than cancer are based on available information from animal studies, but some uncertainty still exists.
What recommendations has the federal government made to protect human health?
Because of the potential for beryllium to cause cancer, the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) has recommended a standard for occupational exposure of 0.5 microgram beryllium per cubic meter of workroom air to protect workers during an 8-hour shift. The Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) has set a limit of 2 micrograms of beryllium per cubic meter of workroom air for an 8-hour work shift. The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) restricts the amount of beryllium emitted into the environment by industries that process beryllium ores, metal, oxide, alloys, or waste to 10 grams in a 24-hour period, or to an amount that would result in atmospheric levels of 0.01 microgram beryllium per cubic meter of air, averaged over a 30-day period.
Karin: ALL DOE sites are operated primarily by NON-government employees who work for a private company contracted by DOE to operate the site. This company is referred to as the M&O Contractor. Most of the hands-on operations (and therefore the exposure to hazardous environments) are done by these private employees. A relatively small number of DOE employees oversee and administer the contractor.
The fact that the government has admitted liability is a major positive factor in your Sister's favor. Now, I believe that Westinghouse operated the Bettis Labs for the Nuclear Navy not the DOE so I don't know how directly Secretary of Energy Richardson's policy will carry over to another department of the government.
It seems to me that it is worth an introductory discussion with a torts lawyer with experience in litigating cases like this against government agencies. Perhaps some FReeper attorney can offer some thoughts about.
Here's another one: 12 Rocky Flats Workers Exposed to Beryllium Have Lung Disease
DENVER POST
Date: January 13, 1990
Twelve people who were exposed to the metal beryllium while working at the Rocky Flats nuclear weapons plant have contracted a deadly lung disease, according to an Energy Department study obtained by a newspaper. Eight current Rocky Flats workers and four retired employees tested positive for berylliosis, The Denver Post reported in its Sunday editions.
They were among more than 750 employees at the federal complex 16 miles northwest of Denver who have handled beryllium, a metal used in the manufacture of plutonium triggers. So far, diagnostic tests have been given to 391 of those workers.
No deaths have been reported, but the incurable disease usually proves fatal to 30 percent of those who contract it, doctors said. The disease was discovered during a $2 million medical study of Rocky Flats financed by the Energy Department and the National Institutes of Health. Researchers say it is the biggest workforce study of berylliosis to date and is scheduled to be completed in 1993.
The study is being overseen by Denver doctors from the National Jewish Center for Immunology and Respiratory Medicine and the University of Colorado Medical School.
''This study will have an impact on every beryllium operation in the world,'' said Dr. Lee Newman, an assistant CU medical professor leading the research with Dr. Kathleen Kreiss of National Jewish.
The Energy Department released records on the study after The Post requested them under the Freedom of Information Act.
Beryllium is a strong, lightweight metal that increasingly is being used in nuclear, aerospace, telecommunications and computer industries, as well as in ceramics, dental alloys, car parts and golf clubs.
Berylliosis is difficult to detect because it usually remains dormant for 10 years after the metal lodges inside the body.The Denver researchers are trying to develop tests that will warn the Energy Department if a worker is susceptible to the disease.
Contact with finished beryllium products isn't hazardous, Newman said. But an estimated 800,000 American workers have been exposed to beryllium dust in 93,000 private and government plants across the nation, and are considered at risk for the disease.
The Environmental Protection Agency ranks beryllium 28th among the most- used substances linked to cancer in industry.
At Rocky Flats, the Energy Department has spent $2 million in the past four years on a program to improve safety conditions and reduce airborne beryllium concentrations in manufacturing areas, said department spokesman Pat Etchart at Rocky Flats.
''We've installed high-velocity, low-volume ventilation systems and more efficient containment hoods in process areas,'' Etchart said. ''A safety training program for all workers in those areas has also been initiated and medical monitoring was strengthened.'' But during an environmental audit of the plant last summer, Energy Department investigators cited Rocky Flats for not following federal and state procedures in monitoring beryllium emissions from smokestacks. Rocky Flats' new operator, EG&G Inc., said it is protecting workers from airborne beryllium dust by insisting on a factory standard twice as tough as the guideline set by the Occupational Safety and Health Administration. Newman said protection programs at Rocky Flats were improved after the first case was discovered there in 1984. He believes ''the safety setup is pretty good'' now for beryllium at Rocky Flats. About 2 percent to 5 percent of all workers exposed to beryllium eventually develop the disease, researchers say.
...and another:
DENVER POST
January 15, 1997
Several thousand gallons of water from broken water lines flooded a building once used for machining depleted uranium and beryllium at the Rocky Flats Environmental Technology Site. There is no immediate danger to surrounding communities, according to a news release from the plant.
The emergency operations center at the facility, where triggers for nuclear bombs were once manufactured, was activated on an alert at 4:45 p.m. in response to the broken lines in Building 444.
Crews at the building last night determined that none of the water in the building or that escaped from the building was contaminated. They also found that the building contains no hazardous or high-risk chemicals, and that the beryllium and depleted uranium in the building are not in areas affected by the water.
The 161,980-square-foot building was built in 1953. It is no longer operational and is slated for cleanup in the near future. The leak was discovered around noon and contained, said the release.
A second leak was found in the building later, and that sparked the activation of the emergency operations center over concerns about electrical equipment there.
and yet another:
Rocky Mountain News
November 7, 1992
The 26th case of a former or current Rocky Flats worker contracting chronic beryllium disease has been confirmed by a Denver hospital. The non-radioactive disease hits workers who were around beryllium at Rocky Flats before safety conditions were improved dramatically in the past 10 years, said plant spokeswoman Kee Liakos.
None of those diagnosed with beryllium disease has yet died, said Liakos.
But many workers believe beryllium will turn out to be more deadly to employees than radioactive plutonium, which for 37 years at Rocky Flats was fabricated into triggers for nuclear weapons at the plant northwest of Denver.
Beryllium, a strong, lightweight metal, is used to encase nuclear weapons.
About 2,000 past and present Rocky Flats employees have been tested for the disease, whose symptoms may not appear for 15 to 30 years, Liakos said. Tests on Rocky Flats workers began after the first case was diagnosed in 1984. Last year, testing expanded and is open to any past or present worker.
The National Jewish Center for Immunology and Respiratory Medicine diagnosed the latest case.
Denver Rky Mtn News
DATABASE PROVIDES INFORMATION ON FLATS RADIATION RESEARCH P> THURSDAY APRIL 7, 1994
The government has established a public computer database containing detailed information about ongoing radiation research involving human subjects at Rocky Flats.
The Department of Energy said most of the information in the database has been published in scientific journals, but the creation of the database has made it more accessible to the public.
The database, available through Internet, includes summaries of 175 ongoing DOE / EG&G Inc. studies, including five at Rocky Flats. EG&G runs the former nuclear weapons plant in Jefferson County under a DOE contract. The most important of the five is a program for detecting exposure to beryllium, a non-radioactive component of nuclear warheads. Subjects, who enter the program voluntarily, are given blood tests and chest X-rays. Those who test positive are treated for chronic beryllium disease, which causes lung inflammation or ulceration. It can be fatal if left untreated.
Another program studies workers' immune systems via blood samples. A third program provides continuing health monitoring of workers "who received internal depositions of radionuclides, such as plutonium, americium and uranium," DOE said.
A fourth program takes urine samples from 11 people per year as part of a new test being developed at the University of Utah that detects minute levels of plutonium. The fifth program performs six autopsies a year on former plant workers. It compares radiation levels in their tissues to those found in their urine before they died.
One last one:
Denver Post, March 29, 1999
Feds knew of dangerous beryllium levels
During the past five decades, the U.S. government risked the lives of thousands of workers by knowingly allowing them to be exposed to dangerous levels of beryllium, a metal critical to the military, The Blade reported Sunday. Numerous government, scientific and industry reports showed beryllium put workers in extreme danger, and hundreds of workers exposed to the metal's dust have contracted beryllium disease, an incurable and sometimes fatal lung illness, The Blade reported.
Some workers at private weapons plants in Ohio and Pennsylvania were exposed to levels of beryllium dust 100 times higher than federal safety limits, the newspaper said, citing government records.
Workers at Colorado's Rocky Flats nuclear weapons facility handled beryllium but were not part of the Blade's investigation. Dr. Peter Infante, director of standards review for the U.S. Occupational Safety and Health Administration, said the government has failed to protect workers.
"These are all deaths and disease that could have been prevented," Infante said.
"That's the sad thing about it." Beryllium is a gray metal lighter than aluminum yet six times stiffer than steel.
It is vital to the operation of missiles, jet planes and nuclear weapons. It's not clear how many people have contracted the disease.
Researchers cite an estimated 1,200 cases and hundreds of deaths nationwide but say many other cases are misdiagnosed or undetected.
At the nation's largest beryllium plant, at Elmore just outside Toledo, at least 39 workers have contracted the disease and six died.
The plant, owned by Cleveland-based Brush Wellman Inc., has never consistently met federal safety limits in all parts of the factory, the Blade said.
Brush Wellman says it has always posted air test results for workers and has discussed beryllium exposure with them. But it acknowledged that by the time high dust levels are reported, workers already have been exposed.
Hugh Hanes, the company's vice president for government affairs, said Sunday that the company and government were not attempting to hide any information from workers.
"The idea that there has been a conspiracy is wrong," he said. The company has invested greatly in protecting its workers, constantly monitors beryllium levels, and aims to operate within federal safety limits, Hanes said.
The newspaper said the danger is not limited to weapons plant workers.
Beryllium also is used to make everyday items such as golf clubs, and no one knows how many workers are potentially exposed. In addition, about two dozen people have contracted the disease from dust carried into their homes by beryllium workers. Some victims have been women who washed their husbands' work clothes, the newspaper said. Attempts by safety regulators to protect workers from beryllium have been scuttled by defense and industry officials, The Blade said.
Your correct nilesjo - I forgot to mention that the nuclear rods he made at Bettis, went to the Nuclear Power Plant in Shipensport, Pa. (I think). Thanks to all for the info. Will add to my database. Karen
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