Contact: Rob Ostrander 202-224-5721 Shana Stribling 202-224-0309
Monday, January 26, 2004

ST. CHARLES, Mo With former Mallinckrodt workers by his side, U.S. Senator Kit Bond today announced that he will introduce legislation to expedite compensation to local Cold War-era nuclear employees to help them pay medical costs linked to factory-related illnesses.

"These are the hard working employees who worked on the Manhattan Project during World War II and helped America win the Cold War," said Bond, who made the announcement in St. Charles at a meeting with employee advocate Denise Brock, whose father worked at Mallinckrodt, and other former workers.

"Many of these people are still carrying the scars of battle in the form of terminal or life threatening diseases they contracted working with extremely radioactive material. It's time for the federal government to help them."

The St. Louis-based Mallinckrodt Chemical Company's nuclear production facilities employed about 3,500 people, but workers have not been granted a special federal health designation from the government. Senator Bond is fighting to change that.

Bond is introducing the Energy Workers Special Exposure Cohort Designation Act of 2004. The Special Exposure Cohort designation will allow workers at the St. Louis, Weldon Spring and Hematite sites to immediately qualify for expedited compensation totaling $150,000. Employees belonging to an SEC site are not required to go through the long and complex process known as dose reconstruction to determine their exposure levels.

Mallinckrodt employee advocate Denise Brock said, "This is a complex program, enacted with the best of intentions but having many flaws that need immediate remedy. We thank Senator Bond for stepping into the forefront, taking leadership and addressing the many concerns and insurmountable hurdles facing these workers and their families."

In 2000, Congress passed the Energy Employees Occupational Illness Compensation Program Act, legislation designed to compensate former energy workers who were exposed to high levels of radioactive materials by establishing SEC sites. However, the implementation of this legislation has become slow and cumbersome, said Bond.

Earlier this month, Bond urged HHS Secretary Tommy Thompson to add the former Mallinckrodt sites in Missouri to the list of existing SEC sites designated under the legislation.

Bond has argued that Mallinckrodt workers should be designated an SEC since their circumstances are very similar to sites already designated as SEC sites in Kentucky, Alaska and Tennessee. These sites also processed plutonium and involved the loss and/or destruction of records.