SANTA SUSANA FIELD LABORATORY EPIDEMIOLOGICAL STUDY, PART II: EXPOSURES TO SELECTED CHEMICALS
<-- LA Rocketdyne Nuclear Meltdown
Download: EPIDEMIOLOGICAL STUDY, PART II (PDF)
SANTA SUSANA FIELD LABORATORY
EPIDEMIOLOGICAL STUDY, PART II:
EXPOSURES TO SELECTED CHEMICALS
REPORT OF THE
OVERSIGHT PANEL CO-CHAIRS
APRIL 1999
OVERSIGHT PANEL MEMBERS
Jack Geiger, M.D., Co-Chair *
Department of Community Health and Social Medicine, City University of New York
Medical
School, New York, New York
Daniel Hirsch, Co-Chair *
Committee to Bridge the Gap, Los Angeles, California
James Cone, M.D. **
Occupational Health Branch, California Department of Health Services, Oakland, California
Robert Goble, Ph.D. *
Center for Technology Environment and Development and Department of Physics, Clark
University, Worcester, Massachusetts
Barbara Johnson *
Rocketdyne Cleanup Coalition, Santa Susana, California
Caesar Julian, M.D. *
Simi Valley, California
Franklin E. Mirer, Ph.D. *
International Union - United Auto Workers, Detroit, Michigan
Gerald Petersen, Ph.D. ***
United States Department of Energy, Germantown, Maryland
Sheldon C. Plotkin, Ph.D. *
Southern California Federation of Scientists, Los Angeles, California
Jerry Raskin *
Professor Emeritus of Physics, Pierce College, Woodland Hills, California
Robert Rinsky *
National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health, Cincinnati, Ohio
Noah Seixas, Ph.D. *
Department of Environmental Health, School of Public Health and Community Medicine,
University of Washington, Seattle, Washington
Alice Stewart, M.D. *
Department of Public Health and Epidemiology, University of Birmingham, Birmingham,
United Kingdom
* Voting member.
** Non-voting member on the choice of the study contractor. Voting member on other matters.
* * * Non-voting member.
NOTE: Dr. David Michaels served as co-chair of the Oversight Panel for much of the study until his
appointment as Assistant Secretary for Health, Safety, and the Environment for the United States
Department of Energy.
SANTA SUSANA FIELD LABORATORY EPIDEMIOLOGICAL STUDY,
PART II: EXPOSURE TO SELECTED CHEMICALS
REPORT OF THE OVERSIGHT PANEL CO-CHAIRS
Summary
The epidemiological study of Santa Susana Field Laboratory (SSFL) workers
was triggered out of two concerns: that workers on-site may have been affected by
workplace exposures to radioactive and chemically hazardous materials and that
releases of such materials from the facility may have harmed members of the
neighboring community. SSFL workers operated nuclear reactors, handled
plutonium and conducted rocket-engine tests. The events leading up to the
establishment of the study included disclosures of a number of accidents involving
nuclear reactors on the property, radioactive and chemical contamination affecting
both on- and off-site areas, and a preliminary study suggesting elevated incidence of
bladder cancers in census tracts closest to the facility that, although not definitive,
pointed to the need for a full-scale investigation.
Since SSFL workers were expected to have higher exposures to the relevant
radioactive and chemical materials than the nearby general population, it was
decided that the appropriate next step was a detailed epidemiological study of the
workers. If the study concluded there was no risk to workers, the issue of potential
impacts on the neighboring community could also be put to rest. If the study did
find deaths among the workers attributable to their exposures, additional follow-up
study of the neighboring community might be in order.
The first phase of the worker study, released in 1997, found SSFL worker
exposure to radiation appears to have increased the risk of dying from lung cancer,
cancers of the blood and lymph system, and cancers of the upper-aerodigestive-tract
(including cancers of the oral cavity, pharynx, esophagus, and stomach). The second
part of the worker study, now being released, observed positive associations
between occupational exposure to hydrazine (and/or other chemicals associated
with rocket-engine testing) and the rates of dying from cancers of the lung, the blood
and lymph system, and bladder and kidney.
In light of the results from both phases of the worker study, indicating that
occupational exposures to radioactivity and hazardous chemicals at the site appear
to have resulted in excess cancer deaths among the workforce, we recommend that a
follow-up study of the neighboring community be conducted, if technically feasible.
As a first step to that end an evaluation of possible approaches to such a community
study should be performed.
In order to assure public confidence, we recommend that both the feasibility
study and any actual community study be conducted, as was the worker study,
under the auspices and direction of the Panel. Any independent contractor involved
in the work should be selected and overseen by the Panel, as was the case with the
UCLA team. We emphasize that it is important for the credibility of the follow-up
work that it be kept independent of both the company and the governmental
agencies that were responsible for regulating or sponsoring work at the facility.
The next step is for the Panel, with a contractor it selects, as needed, to
commence the feasibility study of various possible approaches to a follow-up
community study. We recommend that the Panel be provided the financial
resources necessary for it to continue and for it to be able to carry out those tasks.
The worker study was conducted on the premise that if it found no health
detriment attributable to on-site exposures, no off-site follow-up study would
probably be needed. However, both the radiation and chemical components of the
study have found positive associations between exposure and the risk of dying from
cancer. The commitment to the public was that, if that proved true, a follow-up
independent study of the community would, if technically feasible, be conducted.
We believe that commitment now needs to be carried out.
Download: EPIDEMIOLOGICAL STUDY, PART II (PDF)
<-- LA Rocketdyne Nuclear Meltdown
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