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U.S. Plans To Pay for Ills From Radiation
This was above the fold in today's Washington Post
-- John
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U.S. Plans To Pay for Ills From Radiation
By Joby Warrick
Washington Post Staff Writer
Wednesday, April 12, 2000; Page A01
The Clinton administration, vowing to "right the wrongs of the past," will
unveil plans today to compensate thousands of ailing workers who were
exposed to radiation while helping to build the nation's nuclear arsenal.
The unprecedented national compensation plan offers payments of $100,000 to
workers with certain cancers, in the first tangible acknowledgment of
responsibility for decades of unsafe working conditions in dozens of nuclear
bomb factories around the country.
Thousands of other workers would receive help in applying for compensation
under liberalized policies that reverse decades of government antagonism to
workers' medical claims, according to a draft of the plan obtained by The
Washington Post. In addition, workers would receive the benefit of the doubt
when plant medical records are missing or flawed, the draft states.
"The government is done fighting workers and now we're going to help them,"
said Energy Secretary Bill Richardson, confirming details of the plan
crafted by the White House National Economic Council. "We're reversing the
decades-old practice of opposing worker claims and moving forward to do the
right thing."
The plan would cost the federal government an estimated $400 million over
the first five years, officials familiar with the plan said. After that, the
cost is expected to decline as cases are settled.
The production of 70,000 nuclear weapons over 50 years employed more than
600,000 men and women at 16 major sites and dozens of smaller ones. Workers
have testified in a series of recent hearings that they were frequently
exposed to high levels of radiation as well as hazardous chemicals.
In January, the same White House panel concluded--based on the largest-ever
review of worker health studies at weapons plants--that workers suffered
higher rates of disease from exposure to radiation and toxic chemicals. That
decision reversed decades of official denials and began the process of
deciding how to compensate workers who became ill.
Under the new proposal, parts of which would require congressional approval,
the Energy Department would set up a workers' advocacy office, effective
next month, to help current and former employees who believe they suffer
from job-related illnesses. Breaking with a long-standing practice of
fighting compensation claims in court, the new Occupational Illness
Compensation Office would expedite claims, using independent physicians to
determine if illnesses are work-related. Once that link is established, the
DOE would accept responsibility for the illness.
Under a separate program, workers or survivors of workers who contracted a
"radiogenic" cancer after being exposed to radiation on the job could choose
between a lump-sum payment of $100,000 or a negotiated compensation package
that covers all medical costs as well as lost wages and job retraining.
Common radiogenic cancers include leukemias and myelomas as well as cancers
of the bone, lung and thyroid.
If reliable exposure records are not available, the government "will assume
[the workers] were exposed to the highest amount of radiation associated
with the tasks they performed," the draft states. While the lump-sum payment
would be offered only to workers diagnosed with cancer before the
compensation plan is enacted into law, all workers exposed to radiation
would be eligible to apply for a compensation package.
Identical coverage would be offered to workers who were exposed to
beryllium, a highly toxic metal used in nuclear weapons production.
In recent months, Richardson has announced pilot programs to compensate
several relatively small groups, including uranium workers who were exposed
to radioactive plutonium at the government's gaseous diffusion plant in
Paducah, Ky.
Government-funded medical surveys since 1960 have shown higher rates of at
least one type of cancer--varying from thyroid tumors to leukemia--at most
of the major facilities that produced nuclear weapons.
Yet, in part because of the cloak of secrecy that enshrouded weapons
production, the federal government never acknowledged a link between the
cancers and working conditions in the plants. The White House panel in
January found "credible evidence" of increased health risks due to "ionizing
radiation and chemical and physical hazards."
In draft remarks prepared for today's announcement, Vice President Gore
acknowledged that compensation "cannot undo" the suffering of injured
workers. But "today this administration begins the process of compensating
workers for their suffering and becoming an advocate for all contract
workers no matter where they worked."
Recent revelations about workplace hazards in weapons factories also has
spurred calls in Congress for compensation. At a Senate Governmental Affairs
Committee hearing last month, Sen. Fred D. Thompson (R-Tenn.) termed worker
illnesses a "national problem" and urged the administration to be generous
in crafting its solution.
"The burden of proof has to be on the government," he said. "If the federal
government made mistakes that jeopardized [workers'] health and safety, then
we need to do what we can to make it right."
Early reaction to the new proposal was generally positive. Rep. Ted
Strickland (D-Ohio), who sponsored compensation legislation with Rep. Edward
Whitfield (R-Ky.) earlier this year, credited Richardson with fighting for
workers despite resistance within the administration. "This is just one step
along the way to making this an accomplished fact," Strickland said. "But I
can tell you, the workers are terribly concerned about what's going to
happen to them if they don't get some help."
© 2000 The Washington Post Company
---------------
John Jacobus, MS
Health Physicist
National Institutes of Health
Radiation Safety Branch, Building 21
21 Wilson Drive, MSC 6780
Bethesda, MD 20892-6780
Phone: 301-496-5774 Fax: 301-496-3544
jjacobus@ors.od.nih.gov (W)
jenday1@email.msn.com (H)
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