On the recordJuly 25, 2012
An alarming number of former employees at Bethlehem Steel in western New York are now suffering from cancer and other diseases due to radiation exposure as a result of having unknowingly worked with and around uranium during the Cold War. After a multiyear fight, and thanks to the determination of workers and their families, those who were employed at the site from 1949 to 1952 are eligible for $150,000 in compensation for their injuries. However, the cutoff at 1952 is arbitrary because no serious mitigation was undertaken until 1976. Madam Speaker, those workers should also be eligible for just compensation. I am working with our Senators to urge the Centers for Disease Control and the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health to meet with these workers, hear their stories, and finally grant them eligibility for just compensation. ____________________
