Ex-test site workers offered lung scans

An early lung cancer detection protocol designed to help save the lives of men and women exposed to carcinogens as they worked to advance the country's cold war nuclear weapons program is now available to former Nevada Test Site workers - 12 years after the Department of Energy first rolled out the technique to help such ex-employees at other sites in the country.

At least 2,500 former test site workers, many of whom re-entered tunnels soon after nuclear bomb tests had been conducted, have been identified as eligible for the low-dose computed tomography, or CT scans, according to Jonathan Corbin, outreach coordinator for the Worker Health Protection Program, which does medical screening for Department of Energy workers.

The new program for former workers at the test site, now known as the Nevada National Security Site, was announced Wednesday during a briefing that saw Glenn Podonsky, chief health, safety and security officer for the Department of Energy, say the screening honors former workers for the work they did.

"I'm glad they're finally doing something; most of the time all they do is talk about what they're going to do," said former test site miner Oscar Foger, who came to the briefing because he is interested in being tested.

Foger, 70, said he and co-workers used rags instead of respirators or masks to keep from inhaling dust laced with toxic substances or radioactive particles while they worked inside tunnels. Foger said he has been awarded $250,000 in compensation for medical conditions that included a cancerous kidney, which was removed.

Since 2000, the Worker Health Protection Program has provided early lung detection screening at seven other sites in the United States, with more than 11,000 men and women receiving low-dose CT scans.

Seventy-seven lung cancers have been detected, with 73 percent found in early stages.

The Worker Health Protection Program is operated by Queens College of the City University of New York, with funds provided by the Energy Department.

The goal of the CT scan - an added component to the medical screening program available to former test site workers since 1998 - is to detect lung cancer at an early stage, even before the development of symptoms.

"That is when treatment is most likely to be effective," said Dr. Lewis Pepper, co-director of the Nevada screening program, which has conducted basic screening on more than 4,000 former Nevada Test Site workers.

The new lung cancer screening is available to former test site workers who meet predetermined work, age and smoking criteria for lung cancer risk.

Screenings will take place at Desert Radiology.

Former test site employees may call toll free at 1-866-228-7226 to get more information about eligibility.

In 2011, the National Cancer Institute released findings confirming that low-dose CT scans can prevent 20 percent of deaths from lung cancer in high risk individuals.

Pepper said that in 2000, Congress first allocated funds for early lung cancer testing of former workers at Department of Energy sites in Tennessee, Kentucky and Ohio.

The workers there, he said, were at a higher risk of lung cancer because they worked at facilities where highly enriched uranium was produced to fuel military reactors and produce nuclear weapons.

When asked at how much higher risk they were than those who worked at the Nevada Test Site, Pepper said, "I can't say qualitatively."

Three years ago, four other early testing sites were added in Tennessee and Ohio.

Pepper said that those who can now be helped by the program in Nevada will largely be in their late 60s, 70s or older.

Despite their advanced ages, many former test site workers exposed to agents such as radiation, silica, asbestos and beryllium - all of which can cause lung cancer - can still be helped by the low-dose CT scans and treatment, Pepper said.

An office representative of U.S. Sen. Harry Reid, D-Nev., attending the briefing read a letter from the Senate majority leader expressing satisfaction that Nevada is getting the program.

The letter noted that between 1951 and 1992, 928 atmospheric and underground nuclear tests took place in Nevada with thousands of workers exposed to radiation and other toxic materials.

Contact reporter Paul Harasim at pharasim@reviewjournal.com or 702-387-2908.