TONAWANDA, NY

WHAT OF THE LINDE/PRAXAIR WORKERS AND LOCAL RESIDENTS? (And others nationwide who are in the same unique position)

It is with a great deal of interest that I have been following the recent news concerning the US government finally admitting that nuclear workers exposed to radiation in the workplace could be suffering from cancers and other illnesses caused by this exposure.

In my almost six years of researching the high rate of unexplainable (?) new cancers and cancer related deaths of fellow workers at the Linde/Praxair (L/P) worksite in the Town of Tonawanda, NY one thing became clear. No one, but no one, wanted to admit that there could be a relationship. Time and time again, our local environmental group F.A.C.T.S. (For A Clean Tonawanda Site), Inc.(FACTS) was told "you can't prove that". Now that the latency period for these various cancers (caused by long-term exposure to low-level ionizing radiation) has been reached, the new cancer incidences and the cancer deaths among these fellow workers have started to blossom.

It appears that, at least at present, the only focus concerning these illnesses is on Cold War nuclear employees who are suffering from diseases that relate to this exposure. Therefore, the Linde/Praxair (L/P) workers are being totally ignored. Why is this, you ask? Read on.

AN ANALOGY:

In relating the plight of the L/P workers who didn't take part in the original uranium refining, but who worked in the contaminated buildingsall these years, I would like to draw the following analogy:

The fellow workers that I speak of here did not "stir the pot of chowder." They came along after the "chowder" was all cooked. What they did come across was a "dirty kitchen". A "kitchen" that was dirtied by the earlier "cooking." Therefore, they got "dirty" from working in this same "kitchen."

FORMATION OF F.A.C.T.S. in '94

Our local environmental group FACTS was formed in November of '94 by three local concerned persons. Two were workers at L/P (one retiree) and the other was an interested partner who had spent many years researching the West Valley Demonstration Project located in West Valley, NY.

It was FACTS main purpose to get the true information out to the public - information that the public would not normally be exposed to. As was fully expected, we were labeled with the usual "Troublemakers," "Kooks," "Radicals," "Chicken Littles," etc. names.

Relevant information was presented in our printed newsletter. In April of '97 the FACTS web site went online to disseminate the facts.

"NO PROBLEM"

Local residents were told that there's no problem. If so, how do we then explain why millions of dollars have been spent to clean up a "non-problem"? HMMMMmmmmmm. Even when the job is "done", anything below 40 picocuries (Thorium) will be left behind.

Local townspeople listened to (and believed) the batches of disinformation being disseminated by the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC), the Department of Energy (DOE), US Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) and other "experts". They challenged what FACTS was saying. After all, none of the FACTS members were learned people in the nuclear field.

FACTS never claimed to be expert in any field. What FACTS did do was to spend thousands of hours gathering information and documents relating to ionizing radiation contamination and its health effects. The sources for this information were knowledgeable people such as Drs. John Gofman, Alice Stewart, Thomas Mancuso and many others too numerous to list here. Also, tremendous amounts of documentation was obtained through Freedom Of Information Act (FOIA) requests (mainly to the DOE).

At one point, we had to appeal to Vice President Gore for his help in obtaining some records that were very critical to our research. I must give credit. He and his staff really came through. Not only did we get the material requested, but DOE was instructed to explain to FACTS just what the problem was in "finding" the documentation we requested.

CITIZENS BECOMING MORE AWARE

In these past six years, I have seen more and more citizens nationwide become aware of the smoke and mirrors, dog and pony shows and other forms of disinformation that was/is being dealt to them. Now, there's the big cover-up of the Depleted Uranium (DU) weapons and the relationship to illnesses of not only our troops, but also the citizens of the countries where the use of DU weapons were used. Remember, not too long ago, we were told that there were no after effects from being exposed to Agent Orange. Any "symptoms" were all in your head. That idea has certainly changed. Guess maybe we "troublemakers" weren't very far off target.

THE FEDERAL CONNECTION - 1981

In 1981, the NY State Assembly held a very thorough investigation of the general area from Niagara Falls, NY to the Town of Tonawanda, NY. This also included the Love Canal area. When the investigation was over, the report was compiled into two volumes. These documents can be seen at the FACTS web site <http://www.factsofwny.com> under the title THE FEDERAL CONNECTION:

THE FEDERAL CONNECTION makes for some very interesting reading.

UNIQUE POSITION OF LINDE/PRAXAIR WORKERS

Since it appears that only those who worked in nuclear facilities during the Cold War are mentioned in the government's admissions, this presents another unique situation related to the Linde/Praxair workers. Since they didn't "stir the pot" during the Cold War, they weren't exposed to the fluorides used in the refining of the uranium. What they were exposed to were years of working in buildings and on grounds that were either "fully decontaminated" (according to the old, inferior standards) or in buildings in which "there was no ionizing radiation present". (?) We now find that the employees were lied to.

PROSPECTIVE EMPLOYEES NEVER WARNED OF HAZARDS

Further, when they were hired, no one was ever told of the possible danger of being exposed to ionizing radiation contamination. Had they been forewarned, they could have made an informed, intelligent decision as to whether or not they wanted to accept employment with Linde/Praxair. Undoubtedly, had they been awre of the hazards, that decision would have been "thanks, but no thanks".

It now comes to light that the contamination in these very same areas is/was above even present day guidelines.

PLEASE NOTE: FACTS does not believe in the "threshold theory" which claims there is a threshold below which no harm will be done to human genes.

"CLEANUP" OF THE LINDE/PRAXAIR PROPERTY

DOE said it would only take a couple of months to decontaminate Building 14. Now, three years later, the USACE (who took over from DOE) has come to the conclusion that due to the fact that there is contamination in and around the foundation of the building, institutional controls will have to be put into effect. FACTS has lost track of how many million dollars were spent on just this one building in an attempt to decontaminate it.

In checking with the Town of Tonawanda tax assessor, at the start of the cleanup by DOE a few years ago, we found that the building was assessed for $320,000+. It was at this early point that FACTS strongly suggested that the building be razed. But, no, FACTS was just causing trouble again.

FLUORIDES & URANIUM PROCESSING:

When Jim Phelps <doewatch@onelist.com> first started mentioning the seriousness of the fluoride exposure inherent in the processing of uranium, I wondered where he was going with this? In fact, I even mentioned this to Jim in an e-mail. This was after I did some basic research on fluorides, therefore I agree with "where he is/was going with this".

NOTE: Since the L/P workers that I refer to here did not work with the processing of the uranium, they weren't exposed to the levels of fluoride as those who worked in the actual processing (which, by the way, most of whom, if not all, are dead now).

WHAT OF FUTURE GENERATIONS? WHO KNOWS, WHO CARES (?)

FACTS feels sorry for those young people who, in the future, end up working in Building 14. How much gene damage will they pass on to their unborn children? It almost appears as though the answer (by local politicians, pro-nuclear factions and many of the government agencies) is who knows, who cares? To those who really care -- oh well -- they're just a bunch of troublemakers.

NOTE: If there are any others out here that is/were in this unique position, I'd like to hear from them.

Thanks for reading,

Don Finch, Editor & Co Webmaster

F.A.C.T.S. (For A Clean Tonawanda Site), Inc.
Tonawanda, N.Y. & Manhattan Project (World's 1st Atomic Bombs) Web site:
http://www.factsofwny.com

"WHEN SPIDERS UNITE, THEY CAN TIE DOWN A LION" - Ethiopian Proverb

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