Bond Urges Quick Approval of Mallinckrodt Worker Compensation Advisory Panel Recommends Coverage for Some Former Employees Feds to Make Recommendation on Remaining Workers in April Bond Vows to Continue Fight
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February 9, 2005
ST. LOUIS, MO Senator Kit Bond today applauded a federal advisory board for recommending faster payments for some Cold War-era Mallinckrodt workers and urged federal health officials to quickly approve the recommendation. Bond also vowed to continue his fight for those Mallinckrodt workers not yet eligible for the immediate compensation.
A federal panel meeting in St. Louis this week has announced that Mallinckrodt workers employed between 1942 and 1948 at the downtown site and who now suffer from one of 22 specific cancers should be eligible for immediate compensation of up to $150,000 from the federal government. The Department of Health and Human Services has 30 days to approve the recommendation.
“Justice has been served for some of these workers,” said Bond. “These families can now receive the compensation they deserve and have been owed for too long. Without the selfless hard work of Denise Brock this would not have been possible. I am urging federal officials to approve this recommendation immediately.”
The board will make a recommendation for Mallinckrodt workers employed between 1949 and 1956 at a meeting expected to take place in April in order to review new information.
“The federal government cannot leave these other workers behind,” said Bond, who testified before the advisory panel this week. “The evidence is clear and compelling and the need is there. Federal officials need to move fast to make further recommendations and provide help to these families.”
“I am eternally grateful to Senator Bond for his presence in this fight and his continued commitment to these workers,” said worker advocate Denise Brock. “We could not have accomplished this without the support of Senator Bond.”
The St. Louis-based Mallinckrodt Chemical Company's nuclear production facilities employed about 3,500 people who were exposed to large doses of radiation, but those workers have not been granted a special federal health designation from the federal government, called a Special Exposure Cohort (SEC), which would prevent the workers from going through the cumbersome process known as dose reconstruction in order to be eligible for immediate compensation.
According to federal officials, there are two requirements for creating an SEC. One, if it is not feasible to estimate accurately the radiation dose employees received, and two, if there is a reasonable likelihood that such a radiation dose endangered the health of members of this class.
A federal panel meeting in St. Louis this week has announced that Mallinckrodt workers employed between 1942 and 1948 at the downtown site and who now suffer from one of 22 specific cancers should be eligible for immediate compensation of up to $150,000 from the federal government. The Department of Health and Human Services has 30 days to approve the recommendation.
“Justice has been served for some of these workers,” said Bond. “These families can now receive the compensation they deserve and have been owed for too long. Without the selfless hard work of Denise Brock this would not have been possible. I am urging federal officials to approve this recommendation immediately.”
The board will make a recommendation for Mallinckrodt workers employed between 1949 and 1956 at a meeting expected to take place in April in order to review new information.
“The federal government cannot leave these other workers behind,” said Bond, who testified before the advisory panel this week. “The evidence is clear and compelling and the need is there. Federal officials need to move fast to make further recommendations and provide help to these families.”
“I am eternally grateful to Senator Bond for his presence in this fight and his continued commitment to these workers,” said worker advocate Denise Brock. “We could not have accomplished this without the support of Senator Bond.”
The St. Louis-based Mallinckrodt Chemical Company's nuclear production facilities employed about 3,500 people who were exposed to large doses of radiation, but those workers have not been granted a special federal health designation from the federal government, called a Special Exposure Cohort (SEC), which would prevent the workers from going through the cumbersome process known as dose reconstruction in order to be eligible for immediate compensation.
According to federal officials, there are two requirements for creating an SEC. One, if it is not feasible to estimate accurately the radiation dose employees received, and two, if there is a reasonable likelihood that such a radiation dose endangered the health of members of this class.
