CDC AND NIOSH PROVIDE MEANS OF COMPENSATION TO EMPLOYEES  EXPOSED TO BNL RADIATION  1947-1979 

Living employees who are ill and relatives of deceased employees of Brookhaven National Laboratory who were exposed to unknown levels of radiation from 1947 -1979 and died of certain cancers can now turn to the Center for Disease Control and Prevention, (CDC) and the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health  (NIOSH) for help with compensation.

Since 2000, any person who worked at Brookhaven National Laboratories or their contractors or subcontractors from 1980 to the present, by law may be compensated for radiation exposure.  Now people who formerly were not covered for cancers caused by their exposures, because they were caused during years when the documents were classified, will also be able to apply for compensation.

People who are eligible for inclusion in the SPECIAL EXPOSURE COHORT (SEC) Class, which took effect on January 9, 2010 are living employees of Brookhaven National Laboratory or their contractors or subcontractors, working during a specified time period who can show they are suffering from specific forms of cancer.  Spouses, parents, children, grandchildren and grandparents of deceased employees, who can show that their relative died of one of the qualifying cancers may also be eligible.

SEC Class members have been so designated because it is not feasible to estimate with sufficient accuracy, the radiation dose that the class received and there is reasonable likelihood that such radiation dose may have endangered the health of the members of the class.

In addition to having worked  at least 250 aggregate hours from January 1, 1947 through December 31, 1979) at Brookhaven National Laboratory in Upton, Long Island in order to qualify for compensation, a covered employee must have at least one of the following types of cancer:

-Bone Cancer

-Renal Cancer

-Leukemia (other than chronic lymphocytic leukemia) provided the onset of the disease was at least two years after the first exposure

-Lung Cancer (other than in-situ lung cancer that is discovered during or after a post-mortem exam)

The following diseases, provided onset was at least five years after the first exposure:

-Multiple myeloma

-Lymphomas (other than Hodgkin's Disease)

-Primary Cancer of the:

-Bile Ducts

-Brain

-Breast (female)

-Breast (male)

-Colon

-Esophagus

-Gall bladder

-Liver (except if cirrhosis or hepatitis B is indicated)

-Ovary

-Pancreas

-Pharynx

-Salivary Gland

-Small intestine

-Stomach

-Thyroid

-Urinary bladder

The Department of Labor (DOL) is responsible for the administration of the ENERGY EMPLOYEES OCCUPATIONAL ILLNESS COMPENSATION  Program  (EEOIC), created in the year 2000.  The notification to the claimants of their options after a class has been designated also falls under their purview.

EXCLUSIVE*****FREELANCE INVESTIGATIONS

EMPLOYEES FROM BROOKHAVEN NATIONAL LAB EXPOSED TO UNKNOWN LEVELS OF RADIATION FROM 1947 to 1979...    Designated:  " Special Exposure Cohorts" Class

In response to a report released September 29, 2009,  Kathleen Sebelius, Secretary of the Department of Health and Human Services has designated any employee who worked at Brookhaven National Laboratory from January 1, 1947 through December 31, 1979 to be part of a special class of employees known as the "Special Exposure Cohort Class" (SEC).

People in the class have purportedly been exposed to unknown levels of radiation also known as exposure to "hot" environmental circumstances on the job at BNL for decades.

In several identical letters,  dated December 10, 2009, sent to The President of the United States and majority and minority leaders of  Congress on both sides of the aisle,  Sebelius outlined the parameters for  adding these  class members to the SEC Class already established.

All employees of the Department of Energy, it's predecessor  agencies, and it's contractors and subcontractors who worked at Brookhaven National Laboratory in Upton, New York from  

January 1, 1947 through December 31, 1979, for a number of work days aggregating at least 250 work days, occurring either solely under this employment, or in a combination with work days within the parameters established for one or more other classes of employees in the Special Exposure Cohort.

In another letter from Paul L. Ziemer, Ph.D., Chairman of the Advisory Board on Radiation and Worker Health, dated November 16, 2009, to Kathleen Sebelius, Dr. Ziemer had recommended that these workers be added to the class based on the following factors:

The Brookhaven National Laboratory site is a DOE (Dept. of Energy) covered facility from January 1, 1947 to present and serves as a facility involved with numerous radiological activities.

NIOSH  (National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health) found that though there is sufficient documentation that appropriate monitoring practices were conducted during the specified time period, historical data management and data retention practices prevent NIOSH from confirming the current  retrievability of the data necessary to estimate doses for the members of the defined class during the time period in question from January 1, 1947 through December 31, 1979.  The Board concurs with this conclusion.

NIOSH determined that health may have been endangered for the workers exposed to radiation at this facility during the time period in question.  The Board also concurs with this determination.

Based on these consideration the Board recommended that the Special Exposure Cohort petition be granted.

WHO SAID IT?

"I believe that banking institutions are more dangerous to our liberties than standing armies.

If the American people ever allow private banks to control the issue of their currency, first by inflation, then by deflation, the banks and corporations that will grow up around the banks will deprive the people of all property until their children wake-up homeless on the continent their fathers conquered."

Answer: Thomas Jefferson 1802

Wells Near Brookhaven Landfill Subject of Concern for Assemblyman Alessi

In response to a petitioner from Suffolk County, who had expressed concerns that underground leachate from the Town of Brookhaven Landfill has contaminated groundwater and may have contaminated private and non-community wells near the landfill, Assemblyman Marc Alessi (1st District) drafted a letter to Steven Bates at the Bureau of Environmental Exposure Investigations at the New York State Department of Health.

"This raises concern that consumption of the groundwater in this area could be causing adverse health effects within our community." according to the January 10, 2010 letter by Alessi.

In the letter Alessi refers to a Suffolk County Department of Health Services study that found that at least ten properties considered to be in the contaminated perchlorate plume, were found to have perchlorate levels greater than levels the United States Environmental Protection Agency (USEPA) current Interim Drinking Water Health Advisory find acceptable.

According to a September 30, 2009 letter health consultation by the NYSDOH, regarding the landfill, the Suffolk County Health Department reported several of these properties are still using these wells.

Referring to a recent telephone conversation he had with Bates, Assemblyman Alessi requested a progress report regarding the homes where levels of 15 mcg/L (micrograms per litre) raise health concerns for people using these wells for potable water.

Alessi also requested a list of any residents in this area who have been hooked up to public water.

Jeffrey Hammond, spokesperson for the New York State Department of Health responding to a call for information said "We're in the process of preparing our response." Hammond agreed to forward a copy of the response letter to Freelance Investigations as soon as it is available.