Published: July 22, 2008 11:03 pm      

TOWN OF TONAWANDA: Federal lawmakers urge Linde review

Employees of the former Linde Ceramics facility are receiving some high-profile help to get their exposure to radioactive materials reviewed.

Congresswoman Louise Slaughter and Senators Charles Schumer and Hillary Clinton have submitted a letter asking the National Institute of Occupational Safety and Health to review the situations of workers at the plant between 1947 and 1953.

From 1942 to 1946, the former Linde Air Products Division of Union Carbide processed uranium ores at its ceramics plant in the Town of Tonawanda under contract to the Manhattan Engineer District. In 1953, the Linde facilities were cleaned to within radioactive guidelines in effect at that time.

NIOSH has agreed to review a similar petition for workers from 1954 until 2006, but cited problems with supporting documents as its reason for rejecting the first petition. Antoinette Bonsignore, project coordinator for the Linde Ceramics Special Exposure Cohort Action Group, wrote in the petition that many of the facility’s records NIOSH could use to reconstruct the radiation levels employees faced had been destroyed.

Bonsignore said both applications were very similar and it’s odd that one was approved for review while the other was rejected.

“The evidence submitted for both is the same,” Bonsignore said. “The only difference between the two is how I advance the argument for SEC status for the different time periods.”

But Larry Elliott, director of NIOSH’s Office of Compensation Analysis and Support, wrote in the rejection letter that there was inadequate proof that the destroyed records would have been helpful.

“The individuals providing the affidavits did not provide any indication as to what type of records were being destroyed or why,” Elliott wrote. “In one case, an affiant discussed the incineration of Linde records specifically indicating that he was prevented from viewing the records and that he had no personal knowledge of what kinds of records were being routinely destroyed.”

Achieving SEC status would cut down on the red tape that hinders filing claims for former employees and the families of deceased employees, all of whom are entitled to a $150,000 settlement if the worker is found to have been made ill by radiation exposure, Bonsignore said.

Petition review is the first step toward reaching that status, and Bonsignore said her group has appealed the rejection, and a decision on the appeal should be announced within 30 days. If the petition is ultimately rejected, a new petition will have to be submitted.

In their letter, Slaughter, Schumer and Clinton asked Paul Ziemer, chairman of the Advisory Board on Radiation and Worker Health, to reverse the decision not to review.

Workers whose SEC petition won’t be reviewed can still receive the same benefits, but it takes more effort to prove the cause of their cancer. If an SEC class were to be given to Linde, eligible workers could be compensated without having to prove the cause of their cancer.

“The program is so bureaucratic and convoluted that a lot of people abandon their claims because they don’t know how to navigate through such a technical program,” Bonsignore said.

Contact reporter Daniel Pyeat 693-1000, ext. 158.