from The Tri-City Herald, 1/26/01
http://www.hanfordnews.com/2001/jan28.htmlHanford downwinders
seek answers
By Annette Cary Herald staff writer
Randall Pixton of Warden never used to think much about living downwind of Hanford, he said Thursday night.
That was before his wife was diagnosed with thyroid cancer, he said, choking on the words and turning away from the microphone at a public forum to consider the health effects of living near the nuclear reservation.
After his wife fell ill, he started thinking about how many of his relatives -- both biological and by marriage -- living downwind of Hanford had thyroid problems. The Department of Energy has admitted releasing radioactive iodine, which concentrates in the thyroid, into the air during World War II and the Cold War.
The Spokane surgeon who treated Pixton's wife didn't have to ask where they lived. "I know where you live -- downwind from the area," Pixton recalled the doctor saying.
About 100 people gathered for the forum in Kennewick, sponsored by the Hanford Health Effects Subcommittee and the Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry.
The subcommittee, which advises the federal government on downwinder health issues, organized the forum after a similar hearing for workers last year drew a crowd of about 550 in Richland. The Department of Energy had just admitted that some nuclear workers' health had been harmed by exposure to radiation or hazardous materials on the job.
The federal government since has agreed to give ill workers or their survivors at least $150,000 in compensation and provide needed health care.
But downwinders who believe their health has been harmed by radiation or chemicals that drifted off the nuclear reservation say they haven't received so much as an apology.
"What have they done for any downwinder yet?" demanded Kay Sutherland, a lifelong resident of Walla Walla who often speaks on downwinder concerns. "When are downwinders going to be included in free health care?"
Sutherland said she has thyroid disease, a history of miscarriages and kidney and lung cancer.
While the meeting was organized to collect evidence that might compel the federal government to provide compensation or health care to those exposed to radiation or chemicals off the site, at least half of those who signed up to speak had worked at Hanford.
Jim Lake, a Hanford pipefitter, said he hadn't always taken radiation contamination as seriously as he should. Workers sometimes would get skin contamination but would scrub it off with toilet bowl cleaner so they wouldn't have to fill out paperwork, he said.
A former worker, Ray Samson, who has cancer eating away at his nose where a contaminated particle was lodged years ago, said officials could not find the records to show where he'd worked.
To be eligible for federal compensation "workers are going to have to prove they have been exposed," said Dr. Tim Takaro of the University of Washington. "Based on what I've heard tonight, that is going to be difficult."
Takaro, who's studying the health of former workers, said he is concerned about the change from the Clinton to the Bush administration. David Michaels, DOE's assistant secretary for environment, safety and health, who headed the effort within DOE to get worker compensation, was a Clinton appointee.
"We don't know who his replacement will be or if he will have (Dr. Michaels') passion for the program," Takaro said.
This is a critical period for the nuclear worker's compensation initiative as the rules for how it will be implemented are being written, Takaro said.
For more information about the compensation program, call 877-447-9756.
"We're all downwinders!"
Check-out http://www.downwinders.org
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