Back to Annual Meeting Page		American Public Health Association 133rd Annual Meeting & Exposition December 10-14, 2005 Philadelphia, PA

Abstract #106694

Laurence J. Fuortes, MD, MS, College of Public Health, University of Iowa, 2124 Westlawn Bldg, Iowa City, IA 52242, 3193359819, laurence-fuortes@uiowa.edu, Marek Mikulski, MD, Occupational and Environmental Health, University of Iowa, 2124 Westlawn Bldg, Iowa City, IA 52242, and R. William Field, MS PhD, Department of Occupational and Environmental Health, Department of Epidemiology, University of Iowa, College of Public Health, Iowa City, IA 52242.

The authors describe a case study of atomic bomb assembly workers at the Iowa Army Ammunitions Plant (IAAP) in Burlington, IA. The description provides a brief discussion of the health hazards of this industry and the process of evaluation of health risks from ionizing radiation and related industrial processes or exposures. The IAAP workers were exposed to a variety of radioactive materials and other toxic substances, including beryllium, high explosives, solvents, epoxies, heavy metals and asbestos. The IAAP has one of the highest rates of claims per capita of all DOE sites. Six hundred and five cases have been sent to NIOSH for dose reconstruction of which 379 (62.6%) have 1 or more radiogenic cancers. In fact, screening of 671 former workers detected denovo, 5 cases of unsuspected lung cancer, 4 cases of prostate cancer, 2 cases of colon cancer, and one case of thyroid cancer. National Death Index data for the subset of IAAP DOE workers terminated before 1990, who died anywhere in the US as 2000, indicate that 1,281 workers had cancer related mortality. Eighty-seven percent of the reported cancers were one of the 22 cancers listed as radiogenic cancers in the Special Exposure Cohort language. Historical exposure records and incident reports indicate that exposure assessment and personal protection measures were clearly rudimentary and sporadic in the early years of operation. Both the implications for risk and evidence-based compensation under the EEOICPA Act and the potential for the workers designation as a Special Exposure Cohort will be reviewed.

Learning Objectives:

• The audience will be able to recognize the health hazards of this industry from ionizing radiation and related industrial processes. The audience will be able to evaluate accuracy and validity of occupational exposure data. The audience will be able to apply this information to evaluating the appropriateness of Special Cohort Status applications to other populations of Department of Energy workforces.

Keywords: Radiation, Cancer

Related Web page: www.public-health.uiowa.edu/baecps/

Presenting author's disclosure statement:

I wish to disclose that I have NO financial interests or other relationship with the manufactures of commercial products, suppliers of commercial services or commercial supporters.

Recorded presentation