Newspaper finds hundreds nationwide suffering mysterious illnesses

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http://www.n-jcenter.com/1998/Sep/30/HEA1.htm

Sept 30, 1998

Newspaper finds hundreds nationwide suffering mysterious illnesses

News-Journal Wire Services

NASHVILLE, Tenn. - Hundreds of people living near or working at nuclear

weapons plants and research installations in 11 states are suffering an

array of unexplained illnesses, The Tennessean reported Tuesday.

The newspaper interviewed 410 people 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 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 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 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.