[NukeNet] JA 8 Vote on Sick Lab Workers / Press Release

[Marylia Kelley]

For immediate release: Monday, January 7, 2008
For further information contact:
Robert Schwartz, Staff Attorney, Tri-Valley CAREs, 925-443-7148
Marylia Kelley, Executive Director, Tri-Valley CAREs, 925-443-7148

SICK LIVERMORE LAB WORKERS' PATH TO COMPENSATION MAY SOON BE EASED

Tri-Valley CAREs urges national radiation board to "do the right thing" in
January 8 vote

LIVERMORE, CA - Tri-Valley CAREs calls upon the national Advisory Board on
Radiation and Worker Health to recommend adding a class of sick workers
from the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory to the Special Exposure
Cohort (SEC) under the Energy Employees Occupational Illness Compensation
Program Act (EEOICPA).

"If the Board recommends adding the class of workers from Livermore Lab,
sick and dying workers will finally be able to receive the compensation
they deserve," observed Robert Schwartz, Tri-Valley CAREs' Staff Attorney.
"As it stands now, many hundreds of Livermore Lab workers are being denied
justice because the Lab never kept adequate records of employee exposures
due to accidents, spills, leaks and on the job hazards," Schwartz
continued. Schwartz facilitates a support group for ill Livermore Lab and
Sandia Lab workers.

If the SEC passes, it will allow sick workers who meet certain employment
qualifications to receive compensation for specified cancers often
associated with radiation exposure without having to go through the
bureaucratic snarl of individual dose reconstruction, which is impossible
to do correctly in the absence of records.

"This bureaucratic 'Catch 22' of missing records is a major reason why only
307 sick Livermore Lab workers out of 2,300 who have applied for
compensation since the year 2000 have received awards," noted Tri-Valley
CAREs' Executive Director, Marylia Kelley. "While the government cannot
make up for the fact that it lied to its workers about the risks they were
taking, at least a small modicum of justice will be done by removing one of
the roadblocks to compensation for those who were made ill by on the job
exposures."

The Board will consider the Livermore Lab SEC petition at its next meeting
on Tuesday, January 8th in Las Vegas, Nevada. The Livermore Lab SEC
petition, which is being put forward by the National Institute for
Occupational Safety and Health, is scheduled for discussion and vote at
2:15 PM Pacific Time.

Media and other interested parties may listen in via teleconference at
866-659-0537. The code is 9933701.

BACKGROUND:
The SEC is a designation given to a class of workers for whom sufficiently
accurate dose reconstructions cannot be performed.  Without such a
designation, sick workers must have their doses reconstructed by the
National Institute of Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) in a lengthy
and confusing process that is often incomplete when a sick worker passes
away.  Once given the SEC designation, sick workers instead must
demonstrate that they fall within the SEC class definition and have one of
the specified 22 cancers outlined in the EEOICPA.

The proposed class for the Livermore Lab SEC petition includes all
employees of the Department of Energy (DOE), its predecessor agencies, and
DOE contractors or subcontractors who were monitored, or should have been
monitored, for internal exposure to mixed fission and/or activation product
radionuclides while working at the Lab.  Sick workers must demonstrate that
they worked at Livermore Lab for a number of work days aggregating at least
250 work days from January 1, 1950 through December 31, 1973, or in
combination with work days under another class of the SEC.  Workers whose
jobs kept them in administrative facilities-e.g., library, cafeteria,
offices-outside of radiological areas will not be included in the class.

The Board's recommendation whether or not to add the class of workers from
Livermore Lab to the SEC will go to the Secretary of the Department of
Health and Human Services, who will then make a final decision.  Once the
Secretary makes that decision, he will send his decision to Congress, which
has 30 days to reverse or expedite the Secretary's decision.  To date,
Congress has never acted, and after 30 days the Secretary's decision
becomes final. If the class of workers from Livermore Lab is added to the
SEC, then all claims at NIOSH will be sent back to the Department of Labor
(DOL).  DOL will then be responsible for determining eligibility for
compensation under the new class.  DOL will also review all claims
currently in its possession for individuals from Lawrence Livermore.

The EEOICPA was enacted by Congress in 2000. The Act provides for qualified
claimants or their surviving spouses to receive a maximum of $150,000 in
compensation. If living, medical treatment for the sick worker is included.
In some cases a child may file on behalf of a deceased parent.

LOCAL ACTION:
Tri-Valley CAREs will be holding its next Sick Worker Support Group meeting
at the Livermore Public Library on Wednesday, January 9th.  The meeting
will be held in Community Room A from 10am to noon.  The Livermore Lab SEC
petition will be discussed in detail at the meeting, as well as resources
to help sick workers receive compensation.

-- 30 --

CALL TRI-VALLEY CAREs AT (925) 443-7148. STAFF ATTORNEY, ROBERT SCHWARTZ,
WILL BE AT THE RADIATION BOARD MEETING VIA TELECONFERENCE.

Marylia Kelley,
Executive Director

Tri-Valley CAREs
2582 Old First Street
Livermore, CA  94551

Ph: (925) 443-7148
Fx: (925) 443-0177
Web: www.trivalleycares.org
Email: marylia at trivalleycares.org or marylia at earthlink.net