Gov't to Reverse on Illness Claims

["Sandy Perle" <sandyfl@EARTHLINK.NET>]

Index:



US Gov't to Reverse on Illness Claims

US Customs Wants Containers Detailed

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US Gov't to Reverse on Illness Claims



WASHINGTON Aug 7 (AP) - Under pressure from Congress, the Bush 

administration has decided to reverse policy and quit fighting 

illness compensation claims from Cold War-era nuclear weapons workers 

exposed to toxic chemicals.



Final Energy Department regulations, obtained by The Associated Press 

and expected to be issued Thursday, instruct contractors not to 

contest medical panels' findings that workers' illnesses are related 

to job exposure.



The new rules reverse a decades-old policy and differ from a draft 

proposal circulated earlier this year that allowed contractors to 

contest such findings and even said the Energy Department would help 

pay for appeals.



The regulations could affect more than 12,000 workers currently 

seeking help from the Energy Department in getting compensation. Most 

of the affected workers live in states with large DOE facilities, 

such as Colorado, Kentucky, Nevada, New Mexico, Ohio, South Carolina, 

Tennessee, Texas and Washington.



Lawmakers from states with nuclear weapons plants said the 

administration's original proposal ran counter to the intent of a 

bill Congress passed two years ago.



``It appears that DOE has addressed the major concerns that were 

raised about the draft rule last spring,'' said Sen. Fred Thompson, R-

Tenn., who added that more workers would now get compensated.



Richard Miller, a policy analyst with the Government Accountability 

Project, a Washington watchdog group, said Energy Secretary Spencer 

Abraham ``overrode his own staff and really deserves some credit for 

reversing some of the flaws in the previous rule.''



The rule is aimed at helping thousands of workers across the country 

who were exposed to toxic substances at Energy Department facilities 

run by government contractors.



Those workers were not included in a year-old federal program that 

provides medical care and $150,000 each to weapons plant workers made 

ill by exposure to radiation or silica and beryllium, which cause 

lung diseases.



Instead, Congress told the Energy Department to help the chemical-

exposed workers file claims under state worker compensation systems.



``This rule is directed at ensuring that DOE assists as many of those 

contractor employees, who may have been exposed to toxic substances 

while working at DOE facilities, as possible in obtaining the state 

workers' compensation benefits they deserve,'' Abraham said.



Under the new rule, the Energy Department will establish a uniform 

standard for physicians to consider when determining what made a 

worker sick.



``A single causation standard rather than 50 different state 

standards is a major help,'' said Sen. George Voinovich, R-Ohio.



Lawmakers also praised the uniform standard for being generous rather 

than restrictive. It says a claimant should be reimbursed if exposure 

to a toxic substance on the job was ``a significant factor in 

aggravating, contributing to or causing the worker's illness or 

death.''



The new regulations also provide that only a majority vote is needed 

to find in favor of a claimant, compared with a unanimous vote needed 

under the old policy.



The potential cost of the claims is in the hundreds of millions of 

dollars. Many weapons plant contractors are self-insured and are 

reimbursed by the Energy Department for worker compensation costs.



But a problem still exists in cases where contractors have private 

insurance policies. The Energy Department has no contractual 

relationship with the private insurers and cannot instruct them to 

pay claims.



Similarly, if contractors are covered by a state insurance fund, the 

Energy Department has no authority to instruct the state fund to pay 

a sick worker claim.



Miller said his group now wants Congress to pass new legislation to 

make the federal government pay those claims as well.



On the Net:



Energy Department: http://www.energy.gov/

--------------------



US Customs Wants Containers Detailed



WASHINGTON Aug 7 (AP) - The U.S. Customs Service, seeking to prevent 

terrorists from bringing nuclear and other deadly weapons into the 

United States, wants details on the contents of sea containers 

destined for this country 24 hours before the cargo is loaded onto 

ships at foreign ports.



The proposed regulation, unveiled Wednesday, marks the agency's 

latest effort to improve the security of cargo entering the United 

States from the world's seaports.



Currently, many U.S. and foreign sea carriers voluntarily provide 

customs with advance cargo information, but customs may not get the 

information until a few days before a ship carrying the cargo reaches 

a U.S. port, said Customs Commissioner Robert Bonner.



In order to effectively evaluate and identify cargo that may pose a 

risk to U.S. security, customs must have timely and accurate manifest 

information, Bonner said in an interview.



That information also is crucial to another cargo security effort 

spearheaded by Bonner - the customs container security initiative - 

which plays a key role in President Bush's homeland security 

strategy. Under that initiative, U.S. customs officers would screen 

high-risk U.S. bound cargo containers before they leave foreign 

seaports.



So far this year, agreements have been reached with Canada, 

Singapore, the Netherlands, Belgium, France and Germany to station 

U.S. customs inspectors at specific ports in those countries for the 

first time. U.S. inspectors are already in Canada, but they will 

soon be stationed in select ports of the other participating 

countries, Bonner said.



With 5.7 million cargo containers entering U.S. seaports each year, 

Bonner says it is critically important to prevent terrorists from 

using sea containers to smuggle nuclear, chemical, biological or 

other deadly weapons into this country. Approximately 90 percent 

of the world's cargo moves by sea containers.



The issue of improving the security of sea cargo took on heightened 

importance in the United States after the Sept. 11 attacks.



``It is a matter of urgency that customs knows in advance what is in 

the containers destined for the United States,'' Bonner said.



The proposal doesn't specify how companies would provide the advance 

manifest information to customs, but most of those that 

voluntarily provide the information do so electronically, customs 

officials said.



A final regulation could be adopted as early as this fall.



A provision contained in a sweeping trade bill signed into law by 

Bush on Tuesday would eventually require advance information on 

all cargo - not just sea containers - be to electronically provided 

to customs, Bonner said. He said that provision would be 

implemented on a separate track.



Under the proposal, companies that don't provide accurate manifest 

information 24 hours in advance could be subject to fines. But 

Bonner pointed out that customs has the authority to prevent a 

company from unloading a cargo container, a possible option at its 

disposal to penalize violators.



Some of the information that would have to be provided in advance 

under the proposal includes a precise description of the containers' 

contents, date of scheduled arrival in the United States, the foreign 

port of departure, shippers' name and address and vessel name and 

number. Generic descriptions, such as freight of all kinds or general 

cargo, won't be accepted.



On the Net:



Customs Service: http://www.customs.gov

***************************************************************

Sandy Perle				Tel:(714) 545-0100 / (800) 548-5100  

Director, Technical			Extension 2306 			

ICN Worldwide Dosimetry Service	Fax:(714) 668-3149 	                

ICN Pharmaceuticals, Inc.		E-Mail: sandyfl@earthlink.net 	

ICN Plaza, 3300 Hyland Avenue  	E-Mail: sperle@icnpharm.com          

Costa Mesa, CA 92626



Personal Website: http://sandy-travels.com/

ICN Worldwide Dosimetry Website: http://www.dosimetry.com



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