http://www.nando.net/newsroom/ntn/health/093098/health2_27467.html
Hundreds of Americans suffer mysterious ailments, paper reports
Copyright © 1998 Nando.net/Copyright © 1998 The Associated Press
NASHVILLE, Tenn. (September 30, 1998) -- A newspaper report says
hundreds of people living near nuclear weapons plants and research
installations are suffering an array of unexplained illnesses.
The Tennessean interviewed 410 people in 11 states whose ailments
include tremors, memory loss, fatigue and a variety of breathing,
muscular and reproductive problems. Their doctors cannot explain why
they are sick.
No direct link has been established between the illnesses and the Energy
Department sites. And the 410 people are not a scientific sampling and
represent only a tiny percentage of the millions of people who live near
or work at the plants.
Nor is it clear whether the people at or near these plants suffer a
higher rate of unexplained illnesses than the general population.
Still, doctors, scientists and lawmakers said the number of sick people
is large enough to warrant a comprehensive study to try to find the
cause.
"Four hundred people is a lot of people," said George W. Lucier,
director of the environmental toxicology program at the National
Institute of Environmental Health Sciences. "It's not just two or three.
It is something widespread. At least the wheels should be set in motion
in which a team of physicians can go in and look at things more
systemically."
Energy Department officials acknowledge the sites are contaminated.
Among the materials used at the sites were radioactive elements like
plutonium; compounds such as the solvent carbon tetrachloride and
cancer-causing PCBs; and toxic metals such as lead, mercury and
arsenic.
But the department maintains there is no evidence that workers or
residents were exposed to the contaminants in amounts high enough to
harm them.
The Tennessean, in its report published Tuesday, said it talked to
ailing residents and workers at 13 Energy Department sites in Tennessee,
Colorado, South Carolina, New Mexico, Idaho, New York, California,
Ohio, Kentucky, Texas and Washington.
The six largest sites employ about 61,000 people. Roughly 4 million
people live within a 50-mile radius of the facilities.
The Energy Department does not plan to take a comprehensive look at
the issue, said Peter N. Brush, the agency's acting assistant secretary
for environment, safety and health. Officials said the agency is
prohibited by Congress from acting on health problems unless there is a
"plausible connection" between department activities and the illnesses.
The only doctor in the Senate, Sen. Bill Frist, R-Tenn., said it's
important to determine if there is a common denominator in the
illnesses.
"The health complaints gathered from people living in communities near
nuclear plants certainly raise questions. Before drawing any
conclusions, however, we must be careful to rely on scientific
evidence," he said.
--
Judith Richards, London, Ontario, Canada
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