Feb. 28, 2005 - 18:34 MST

THE WONDERING JEW

It Seems

Paraphrasing a bit, "The wheels of the gods grind exceedingly fine" . . . 'til what's left is mine and blows away by design. Hmph. Another article in the Rocky Mountain News this morning.

By Ann Imse of the Rocky Mountain News. In full:

Reassessment at Rocky Flats

Cancer rates found to be far higher than originally estimated

"The Department of Labor is finding that radiation exposure at Rocky Flats is the cause of 29 percent of the cancers among workers at the now closed nuclear weapons plant -- a dramatic increase from original estimates."

"Roberta Mosier, deputy director of a federal program to compensate atom bomb builders sickened on the job, said the government expected to find workplace radiation as the cause in only 1 to 10 percent of the cancer cases."

"At nuclear weapons plants nationwide, 20 to 25 percent of the cancers among workers are being tied to radiation exposure on the job, Mosier said. The new figures mean significantly more workers are being paid under the federal compensation program, which was set up by Congress in 2000."

"Still, workers believe the figures are too low. They say many more would qualify if Rocky Flat's records of their radiation exposure were accurate."

"Cancer is an extremely common illness in America, occurring at some point in 50 percent of the population, so it's very difficult to sort out the cause."

"As part of the compensation program, the government collected epidemiological studies and then wrote a computer program to calculate the odds that a particular worker's cancer was caused by the amount of radiation he or she received."

"If the odds are greater than 50 percent that the cause caused by radiation on the job, the worker qualifies for $150,000 in compensation for lost wages and medical care."

"Officials didn't say if approval rates are higher than expected because workers were exposed to far more radiation than originally believed or because newer medical studies have shown a stronger connection between radiation and cancer."

"So far, 424 Rocky Flats workers who have sought compensation have been approved, 1,005 been denied and 715 are being processed."

"Julie Torres was turned down because the computer decided the chance of her breast cancer being caused by 14 years at Rocky Flats was 39.43 percent. She said she has records showing she ingested plutonioum, but believes her exposure was undercounted."

"I used to have to call and say, 'it's time to get my (radiation) badge monitored. It's been years,'" said Torres. "I feel in my heart, I know that's where I got my breast cancer from."

"That's why she supports a petition filed by the steelworkers union, which claims that records at Rocky Flats are so shoddy that exposures were undercounted. Torres wants the plant added to a short list of weapons plants where the government pays compensation to all workers with cancer."

"The Department of Labor has been running the cancer side of the compensation program since 2000. Last year, Congress put it in charge of the rest of the program, which covers other illnesses, toxic chemical exposures and lost work time."

"The Department of Energy, which ran the weapons plants, had been running that side of the program, but it managed to get only 31 workers paid while spending $95 million on paperwork over four years."

"Labor has paid 111 people since it took over in October, Mosier said. It is doing the most obvious cases first, she said."

"That includes paying survivors of deceased workers whose applications for compensation were approved by the Energy Department. That approval, however, only meant that they could apply for workers compensation, which often was unavailable." Last year's reforms provided federal funding for that."

"Labor is holding town hall meetings in Arvada (Colorado) Tuesday and Wednesday to answer questions about the program."

"The meetings will include representatives from t he National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health, which is collecting the radiation exposure reocords and calculations the chance that radiation caused a workers cancer."

"Rocky Flats, 16 miles northwest of Denver, is being demolished, decontaminated and restored to priarie grass in a project that began in 1995

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Long before 1995 I personally knew several workers who worked at Rocky Flats and heard from them the willful obfuscation concerning matters of safety, records and exposure that management engaged in.

Much like Rocky Mountain Arsenal in Commerce City, Colorado forgotten dumpsites, sloppy handling procedures and messy records as well as attempted coverups by management. Seems to me that our government is trying to say, "Aw shucks, it weren't that bad and these goldbrickers are trying to take your tax dollars (instead of us making the grab).

It seems to me that industries that must operate in strict secrecy are prone to violate common sense, safety rules and ride roughshod over the workers and assure them there is no danger. Management might get by with blowing off some small offenses by claiming they knew nothing about it, but the big boo-boos are staring them in the face and for the most part I think they caused it.

Since 1995 the process of decontamination and demolition has been going on out there and people who went to work out there after that all started have begun to ail with cancer and other things. I would hazard a guess that it was caused by the slop they worked through. Looks to me that tests of the cancers will show nuclear contamination, so what the heck is this dog and pony show all about ?

As far as I am concerned there is an acronym that rises to the foamy top, GIGO, if the data you use to build a computer model is faulty the conclusions it draws tend to be pure garbage, I would say. It looks as if the government paid so little attention to things that there exist no true records of things that went on out there. And there were the several corporations who had the say for all those years.

So, as time goes on people get sicker, weaker and more frustrated, some dying before help comes to them. Even getting the $150,000 a worker with cancer will see that money melt away like snow on a hot summer day being used on medication, radiation, chemo and testing, testing, testing. Not really a decent amount, a flat settlement like that, to my opinion. Full medical coverage, income equivalent to what they made while working there and any durable medical equipment they might need -- all of that paid for until their expiration. Is the way I think it should be handled.

I wonder, just how long all this will take, before a modicum of sense permeates the double domes who are trying to hide the dumbness of governmental operations in time of suspected war ? Forever, to me it Seems . . . . . . . . .

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