Testimony of Sherrie Graham Farver

Submitted to the Senate on Governmental Affairs, this 29th day of March, 2000

(Ill Oak Ridge K-25 Site Former Worker)

Remnants of the Department of Energy (DOE) and of the Oak Ridge K-25 Site will be with me for the rest of my life.  I can run (which I fully intend to do), but I cannot fully hide.  Not only will the memories of retaliation and blatant degradation of human health and safety follow me, but so will the contaminants that reside within my body.  Mercury, cyanide, lead, cadmium, nickel, beryllium, and arsenic are a few of those that have been confirmed.  No doubt there are more.  Medical science cannot predict what will happen when a mixture of these poisons and heavy metals is taken into the human body.  Acting alone, each one of these contaminants can be devastating even deadly.  Together, the effects are multiplied and intensified.

At age 46, my body feels like that of a very old person.  My muscles and joints are sore and ache.  The pain is always present.  I live in a perpetual state of chronic fatigue with rarely if ever a day that I feel energized or refreshed.  I tolerate the pain better than I do the fatigue because the fatigue robs me of motivation and the basic zest of life.  I am treated with a hefty dose of anti-depressant medication twice daily for ongoing and recurrent depression.  The depression has been severe in the past, and I have been told that without the medication I can expect to return to a clinically depressed state again.  I have existed this way for many years.  I was one of the few who continued to work and did not resort to disability leave from my job.  It did become necessary for health reasons to work part-time.  My employer Lockheed Martin Energy Systems (LMES) accommodated my part-time status at first but later unleashed its ugly hostility upon me.

I began my chosen field of study and career path as a young wife and mother of two school-aged sons.  I focused on the love that I had always held for science.  Like most new students, I changed majors a couple of times but continued down the science path.  When my junior college announced a new program for radiation protection, it was like a match made in heaven for me.  I thrived on the courses and excelled.

Most of my employment was at the K-25 Site although I have been "full circle" in that I have worked at all three Oak Ridge DOE sites.  The duties of a health physics technician or as  later called a radiation protection technician simply stated is, to protect man and the environment from the harmful effects of ionizing radiation.  My career saw me in the trenches and on the rooftops.  I worked in basements, attics and everything in between.  I was all over the K-25 Site as a field technician.  One of my managers referred to me as a "super tech".  I had ability and was often put in jobs that were meant for someone at the professional level instead of the technician level.  I answered the call and was proud to do work that was higher than my actual job level.  I taught radiation safety classes, and I served as the embryo/fetus representative at the site.  Pride in my work was apparent and those around me respected my competence.  How did this scenario turn into one of a destroyed career, retaliation, and a firing?  Please bear with me as I continue my story.Brief Job History:

I want you to revisit the year 1989 with me.  That is the year that fatigue and depression came to live me with me, and neither has left me since.  That is also the year that the Toxic Substances Control Act Incinerator (TSCAI) came on line at K-25.  To this day, it is categorized as "experimental", and it is the only incinerator in this country that is permitted to burn hazardous waste that is both chemically and radioactively contaminated in addition to polychlorinated Biphenyls (PCBs).  Sadly, this incinerator is located near housing developments and communities of people.  Monitoring of the incinerator stack is done for oxygen and carbon dioxide content to determine what degree of incineration has been achieved.  There is no continuous or real time monitoring for contaminant emissions from the stack.  DOE and LMES defend the incinerator by saying the emissions are within permitted guidelines.  How do they know this?  They rely on trial burn data and calculations that were done many years ago under ideal operating conditions.  What happens when one figures in operator error, aging equipment malfunction, and the burning of unpermitted and even unknown contaminants?  I think the answer lies in my body and the bodies of so many others.  A route of emissions and subsequent exposures manifests itself in the air that the workers and nearby residents breathe.  If you look at the list of emissions from hazardous waste incineration, you will see the same list as what is found in our bodies.Many of the ill K-25 workers mention the year 1989 as being a critical year with their health.  Former K-25 staff physician, Dr. Timothy Oesch, also noticed the flaring of symptoms around 1989.  At first, I blamed my health problems on aging (I was 35 at the time).  I realize now that people shouldn't feel like I do at my current age of 46, nor at 56, 66, or even 76.  It's not normal.  If you look at the harmful effects of chemical exposures to humans, some become readily apparent.  This is not "rocket science" and it doesn't take a genius to understand what happens.  Headaches, respiratory problems, numbness of the extremities, sinusitis, extreme fatigue,  heart palpitations, sweating, loss of sex drive, depression, blurred vision/loss of vision, depressed immune systems, rapid heart rate, and muscle/joint pain are among the common symptoms.  Most of us cannot point to an acute occupational exposure.  In contrast, our poisoning was slow and chronic in nature.  Yes the body can do a lot to repair itself but as the exposure continues, the body becomes "sensitized" to the point of reacting to smaller and smaller levels of exposure.

My health problems continued to intensify.  In 1991, I was diagnosed as clinically depressed and I was suicidal.  The combination of fatigue and depression was so severe that I felt as if I was in a long tunnel, crawling and clawing desperately to get out but never finding the end of it.  I virtually ceased to live.  Very little of anything brought me joy or pleasure.  That's when I began treatment with Prozac.  Within weeks the change in me was obvious to those around me.  There was a bounce in my step and a twinkle in my eyes where none had been before, and life was once again precious and treasured.  This time period saw me through an agonizing divorce.  Just as I had tried to blame my health problems on aging, I found myself blaming them on the divorce.  As time passed, I adjusted and my life became stable and secure.  I remarried in 1994 after a two year courtship which was smooth and without upset.  Why then, did my health problems (including the depression) keep worsening?  Life was good again, why wasn't my health?

The fall of 1995 brought the answers to my questions.  I worked in the same department with Ann Orick, the same Ann Orick who testified before you at the hearing on 3/22/00.  Ann said that one of the doctors at K-25 (Dr. Oesch) had been noticing symptoms of cyanide poisoning in many of his patients.  She had been tested and suggested that I might want to do the same.  I acquired some literature about cyanide poisoning and was amazed to see my main complaints of depression, fatigue, and muscle/joint pain described as symptoms.  At that very moment, I began to suspect that my debilitating problems had been caused by my workplace.  I went to my private physician who sent a urine sample to the laboratory to be analyzed for thiocyanate, a metabolite of cyanide.  A few days later, he called to say that my results were 16 mcg/ml and that normal results for a nonsmoker such as myself were only 0 - 4 mcg/ml.  I hung up the telephone and for a split second, I smiled and told myself that this was wonderful because after all these years, I finally had an answer to what was wrong with me.  The elation quickly eluded as the harsh reality of cyanide poisoning and levels that were four times greater than the highest range for normal set in.  I was afraid, and I cried.

A few days later, I had the urine thiocyanate test repeated.  This time, my husband who worked at Y-12 also left a urine sample.  The results were staggering.  My sample was even higher than the first one, and my husband's sample was "none detected".  That was my turning point.  There was absolutely no doubt in my mind that the cyanide poisoning was coming from my workplace, the K-25 Site.

I went to the K-25 Medical Department to provide a copy of my lab report just as we were expected to do with medical tests.  I had also jotted down a page full of questions to ask Dr. Oesch.  When the nurse asked the purpose of my visit, I told her that I had a lab report showing cyanide exposure for her to put with my plant medical records and that I wanted to talk to Dr. Oesch about it.  She looked at the lab report and shoved it back into my hands as she told me that she could not put that report in my records.  When I asked why, she said because Lockheed Martin Corporate had determined this to be a "controversial" and a "sensitive issue".  She proceeded to tell me that I could not see Dr. Oesch because he was not supposed to be "discussing or treating" cyanide intoxication on the job.  She even said that she was just "trying to keep both of you out of trouble".  I was shocked and left with the lab report and questions in hand without seeing Dr. Oesch.  Another turning point for me, what kind of company was this that I worked for?  What was so wrong here that a physician was suppressed and medical data was ignored?  Was a cover-up in progress?  My fear of the cyanide and of my workplace continued to escalate.

Ann Orick and I consoled each other daily.  We read everything on cyanide that we could get our hands on.  We reported the actions of our medical department to local and corporate Lockheed Martin Ethics representatives.  We called and met with K-25 industrial hygiene personnel and begged them to order urine tests for the other people who worked in our building.  Their response was, "no, we do not want to alarm anyone."  We met with our division manager who was the site manager of health and safety.  We went together to meet with Dr. Ann Roberts, the director of

K-25 Health Services with our lab reports in hand.  She was cold and rude to us as she quickly glanced over the reports and quipped, "I see nothing remarkable about these."  A few days later, Ann and I returned to health services to file a medical incident report on cyanide.  We spent most of a day there even to the point of staying after our shift had ended.  The way we were treated there was traumatic to the point that both of us were terribly nervous and upset on our jobs the next day.  Ann and I have the experiences described here well documented and can readily make this documentation available if anyone from the committee requests it.In fear for our health and for our jobs, Ann Orick and I continued our struggle.  We realized that we had become "whistleblowers."  Looking back, I don't know how either of us would have endured without the support of each other.  I say the rash of large sores that appeared on Ann's face and head.  Dr. Oesch had told her that in his opinion it was a "cyanide rash".  We had read about such a thing.  I also had a mysterious rash all over my scalp that my doctor had no idea of what it was or what caused it.  It did not respond to the ointment he prescribed and took many weeks to go away.  I remember the day well that I sat in Ann's office with her and watched a heart monitor record "120" beats per minute while she sat in her chair.  I also remember the day that I sat in the same office with her as she suffered chest pains.  I begged her to let me call the site medical department or even to let me drive her into the Oak Ridge to the hospital.  She refused as she explained to me that Dr. Roberts had threatened to take her job if more medical events happened.  Ann needed her job and did not want to risk losing it.  Against my better judgement, we sat and waited and waited until finally the pain subsided.

I implore you, believe the testimony that you heard from Ann Orick.  I have known her for many years and we have remained in close contact by telephone since both of us left K-25 in early 1996.  Ann is telling you the truth.  Her suffering and pain has been and remains immense coupled with the plight her husband Mack, who was the first diagnosed case of chronic beryllium disease from K-25.  Her courage and determination in the face of adversity is immeasurable.  Whether these efforts will be recognized favorably in Ann and Mack's lifetime remains to be seen.  Her ultimate concern is do not allow these things to happen to anyone else.  That sentiment was echoed by all four of the witnesses who testified before you in the hearing.  I share that sentiment.  Our health is sacred; no one or no establishment has the right to take it from us.  For when you have lost your health, you have indeed lost almost everything.

Together Ann and I went to meet with our site manager, Harold Conner, to ask him and to beg him to initiate a health hazard evaluation on cyanide by the National Institute of Occupational Health and Safety (NIOSH).  We told him that if he did not initiate it, that we would.  Both of us told him that it would "look better" on the site if he did it instead of us.  He told us that we as workers could not request the evaluation from NIOSH, and he would have to discuss any action of requesting the evaluation further with management.  We returned to his office a few days later on a snowy morning in January as a follow-up.  We were aware that one of our coworker, Rhonda,  had been seriously injured that morning in an automobile accident as she tried to report to work.  After short while in Mr. Conner's office, he took the phone call with the news that Rhonda was dead.  Ann and I fell to pieces and quickly left his office.  I will never forget Ann and I standing outside in the cold and the snow as we held each other with tears streaming down our faces and saying over and over again, "it's just not worth this - none of this is worth it."

Ann, myself, and several other workers signed the petition to request a NIOSH health hazard evaluation.  Mr. Conner was wrong.  We did have the right and the power to request and to get the evaluation.  Unfortunately, NIOSH failed miserably in their efforts.  No blood, urine, or tissue samples were taken from any worker.  Additionally, field sampling was only done for compounds of hydrogen cyanide.  Many of us urged NIOSH to investigate for other compounds to include nitriles.  Very important, a nitrile compound converts to cyanide after entering the body.  Through our studies, we knew this.  Through our own investigations, we also knew that mass quantities of acetonitrile had been stored and incinerated at K-25.  Once again, this is not rocket science.  NIOSH would not sample for nitrile compounds.  We were left with their report that no source of cyanide exposure was found at K-25, knowing full well that their report was inaccurate and inconclusive by design.  Ill workers petitioned NIOSH a second time to broaden the scope of their investigation to cover other heavy metals and contaminants.  Our request was refused on the basis of it being such a large and costly investigation.  NIOSH denied having the resources to take on this task.I was totally convinced that Ann's condition and the continued exposure to cyanide had become life threatening to her.  Personally, I was experiencing major tingling and numbness of my hands and arms and was fearful of permanent nerve damage.  How can DOE or LMES ethically put this type of risk on someone's life and health?  This is not an acceptable risk, and the mere thought of such risk still is beyond my realm of understanding.  I filed an "Employee Concerns Report" with DOE (see attachment I) only to receive no contact for several weeks.  I also filed an "Employee Concern/Response Program" complaint with my employer, LMES (see attachment II).  In this complaint I detailed my concerns for Ann and myself and provided possible solutions.  I was thorough in detailing the problems and the solutions only to receive a short written response weeks later from LMES that was typed on a blank piece of paper with no date and no signature.  Ann and I waited almost six weeks for that meager response.  The mental strain and our fear was incredible.

Thankfully, Ann left K-25 on disability leave soon after the mishandling of our cyanide concerns. As for me, I continued to ask, and beg, and plead, and even demand to be removed from K-25 until it could be proven that I was not at any risk of being harmed from cyanide exposure.  I met personally with Gordon Fee who was then the president of LMES and Fred Mynatt, the then vice-president of LMES.  This was as high as I knew to go.  I asked that they remove me from the site immediately.  No, it did not happen again.  I was removed within a couple of weeks later following these two events.  First, I put it in writing to management that I suspected permanent nerve damage was occurring with my hands and arms and that I held management personally responsible for this damage.  Second, confidentiality was violated by management as a frightened group of lab workers came to my building to meet with a nurse from NIOSH.  I had contacted these workers to speak with the nurse and fully assured them that their confidentiality would be protected.  It wasn't.  The events and the fears of the past couple of months culminated, and I broke down into an uncontrollable crying spell that lasted close to two hours.  Was it any wonder?  I was and probably still am a strong willed person, but there is only so much that a person can be expected to endure.  My division manager was called.  He transported me to medical where I sat in the office of the site psychologist until my tears were under control.  After returning to my office the phone call came to say, "take what you can carry with you and go to Mitchell Road in Oak Ridge now."  That is how I left K-25.  My cyanide concerns began in October of 1995.  I struggled and fought to be removed from K-25 until February of 1996 when I received that phone call.  This was unacceptable.  DOE nor LMES had no right to leave me in harm's way for weeks that evolved into months.  Damn them both as well as their unethical, corrupt, and criminal actions.

I apologize for the emotion.  Please, please understand that these memories are hard to relive.  These memories not only anger me but hurt me very deeply.  It's similar to what a rape victim must feel when remembering or telling of her rape.  I was violated in many ways during the remainder of my employment.  I will try to briefly recall some of those events for you which did progress into the day that I was fired on 3/26/99 after eleven and a half years of company service.

Bear with me just a bit more on the cyanide issue please.As ill workers clung together and shared experiences and medical data and conducted extensive research, we realized that we had many talents among us.  We formed a group late in 1995 which we named "The Exposed."  That group is now called "The Coalition for a Healthy Environment."  Many of us sat before you and witnessed the hearing on 3/22/00. We learned that cyanide was only a small piece of the puzzle.  We were dealing with a much bigger problem with poisoning from heavy metals and the synergistic effects of their combination in our bodies.  To this very day, it is difficult for us to get medical help.

You see, an example was made of a local physician who questioned disease and heavy metals that he was finding in his patients who worked at the DOE plants in Oak Ridge.  Dr. William K. Reid was attacked to the point that he was ran out of town by then Martin Marietta and he was forced to defend his credibility as a physician.  These events bestowed by a large and powerful company are still emblazoned on the minds of area physicians.  Most will treat us for a sore throat and common ailments but want no part of the occupational realm of heavy metal poisoning.  Dr. Reid is now in Franklin, Tennessee.  He is certified in hematology, oncology, and occupational medicine.  Many of us journey there to see him.  I have never met a more humble man or a physician who cares so deeply about his patients.  What a shame and a what a tragedy that was bestowed upon Dr. Reid, wife Sandra, their four children, and the patients in the Oak Ridge area who so desperately needed and continue to need a competent, honest physician.  Sandra Reid works actively to clear the damage that was done years ago.  If ever given the chance, please listen to her and please help to right the wrongs that were done.

A couple more things, before I finish telling my cyanide story.  I am one of the few, perhaps the only worker, who has conclusive evidence of cyanide poisoning that implicates the K-25 Site.  A local occupational physician drew blood from me on a Monday morning before I went to K-25 to work.  The same test was repeated on the following Friday afternoon after I had been at working at K-25 all week.  The Monday morning sample showed "none detected" for cyanide in my blood.  The Friday afternoon sample showed "0.4 mcg/ml" of cyanide in my blood.  The normal level for cyanide in the blood is "up to 0.05 mcg/ml.  The toxic threshold is 0.5 mcg/ml which means that any person would be symptomatic.  A level of 1 microgram/milliliter is considered to be "acutely toxic."  As you can see, my cyanide blood level on the Friday afternoon after leaving K-25 was 8 times the highest range for normal. Very important, cyanide only stays in the blood with a half-life of 20 minutes.  To detect cyanide in the blood indicates a recent exposure due to the relatively fast clearance time from the blood.  On that Friday afternoon, I went straight from work to get the blood drawn at the doctor's office in Oak Ridge.  There may have been time elapsed of 30 minutes or so.  I will not bore you here with the ridiculous and feeble answers that NIOSH and Doctors Lockey and Bird have provided in trying to downplay the cyanide found in my blood.  Once again, this is not rocket science!After I left K-25 in February of 1996, I spent the next 9 months off-site.  During that time, I was given only one small job assignment that took less than 2 days to complete.  The rest of the time, I sat idle as a full-time employee.  I was isolated from coworkers and given no work to do.  I volunteered to answer phones and do filing, but nothing was given to me.  This is classic treatment of a whistleblower.  There is a distinct pattern of isolating the employee, removing job duties, and then retaliating against the employee for being unproductive.  Often the retaliation escalates into being singled out for a lay-off or into a termination.

Incidentally, I repeated the urine thiocyanate test after the nine month period of being away from the K-25 Site.  As expected, that test showed "none detected" (see attachment III).  I will stop my discussion of cyanide now other than to say that I know in my heart of hearts that I and others were being poisoned by a cyanide or a nitrile compound while at K-25.  I have my laboratory reports, and I have the knowledge of what happened to my body.  Can I ever prove this in a court of law?  Maybe not, but I know with a full degree of certainty and others know.  I believe with all my being that I and others were exposed to acetonitrile and that the TSCA Incinerator was the culprit.  By the way, I failed to mention that cyanide is a known by-product of incomplete combustion and that acetonitrile is one of the most difficult waste products to achieve complete combustion.  Once again, this doesn't take a genius to figure out and it's not rocket science.  For all we know, the private sector who is now leasing land at the K-25 Site may be receiving chronic exposure to cyanide today.  No one has taken blood or urine samples to find out.  The industrial sector and those who strive for economic development and growth would probably rather just not know.

One last thing on cyanide though, I recently sat in a court of law and witnessed sworn testimony by former K-25 staff physician, Dr. Timothy Oesch.  He testified that during the cyanide controversy, he was called to a special meeting with then LMES corporate medical director, Daniel Conrad, and then K-25 health and safety manager, Larry Perkins, and given instructions on how he would be allowed to practice medicine at the site pertaining to cyanide intoxication.  He was told, actually ordered, by Conrad and Perkins to not even let the word "cyanide" cross his lips when dealing with patients.  He testified that the consequences of talking about cyanide to his patients at K-25 would impact his job.  Dr. Oesch received a poor performance rating the following year and was eventually laid-off from LMES.  Dr. Oesch also testified that a patient was brought to K-25 medical and was convulsing.  Blood drawn from the patient's vein was bright red in color.  Once again, we're not dealing with rocket science her, it doesn't take a genius to research medical literature on cyanide poisoning to learn that bright red venous blood can be an indication of acute cyanide poisoning.  Dr. Oesch testified that the then K-25 medical director, Dr. Ann Roberts forbade him to have the blood analyzed for cyanide.  The patient was transported to the hospital in Oak Ridge.  With the passage of time and with the lack of knowledge of treating emergency room physicians there, it is more likely than not that the patient was not checked for acute cyanide poisoning.  Medical malpractice?  Cover-up?  Criminal activity?  I will ask you these questions.  Personally, I was labeled as "psychotic and paranoid delusional" by a DOE consultant psychiatrist by assuming such things.  And yes, this did result in a competent and ethical radiation protection technician being fired from her job one year ago.I went into the cyanide issue at some length in this testimony.  I did that because cyanide opened the door to understanding and involvement with health and safety issues for so many of the ill workers.  Cyanide was only the tip of the iceberg.  But cyanide brought about the discussion of health and the bonding of concerned workers to question and scrutinize the practices of DOE and LMES.  Cyanide concerns were the very beginning of what took years to progress into the hearing that you conducted last week in Washington D.C.  Did cyanide harm us?  We may never know.  Obviously it is a lethal poison and is undesirable in the human body.  Mixed with other toxins and heavy metals, who knows what it has or hasn't done to us.  Medical literature tells us that a small percentage of cyanide is now stored in our bodies.  What effect does that have on us and what effect does that have on us when mixed with the other contaminants?  I'm not sure that medical science has those answers.   I and others may not ever have those answers.

What is important with my elaboration on the cyanide events here is for you to see and try to understand the incompetence, the unprofessional behaviors, the lack of ethics, the negligence, and the deplorable way that the cyanide issue was dealt with.  I could go on and on.  I failed to mention the "cyanide working groups" formed by management in conjunction with the ill workers.  Weeks of meetings progressed with many logical, reasonable, and achievable recommendations agreed upon and brought forward to deal with the cyanide issue.  These recommendations were developed with management's assistance and upon their request; however, none of the recommendations were ever acted upon.  One of the most important recommendations called for the biological sampling of ill workers for cyanide along with control group sampling of the ill workers' families and area residents.  The answers were there.  DOE and LMES just didn't want those answers though; they only wanted the positive press that efforts were being put forth to address the cyanide concerns.

Enough on cyanide.  I hope that I have somewhat conveyed to you the fears, the struggles, the impact to our jobs, the impact to our health, the frustrations, the physical and the emotional strain and toll  that was caused by the prospect of being chronically exposed occupationally to a poison.  I may not have done justice to it, but I assure you that myself and others like Ann Orick will carry the cyanide legacy and the mishandling of it with us for the rest of our lives.  This issue was felt ever so strongly as it progressed in 1995 and 1996, and many of us still feel that issue boiling strongly within us today.  It opened our eyes to the lack of ethics by physicians, both company and private, and to the lack of ethics by many of those DOE and LMES personnel who hold health and safety professional titles.  It also opened our eyes to cover-up, to medical malpractice, and to criminal behavior.  For that awareness, I guess I must somehow be ironically thankful to all things a poison because DOE or LMES would have never imparted that awareness to me.  It blows my mind to realize that the ill workers themselves had to bond together and scrape and study to achieve the truth and some degree of answers to our resulting health problems from heavy metal toxicity.

I grow weary of writing this testimony, and as I pointed out before, each time I go into the gory details of this mess, it takes an emotional toll.  I will conclude my testimony with a brief attempt at listing significant instances for you here.  This is brainstorming, and I know I will recall a lot but will also leave out a lot.  I will give it a go with the time and the energy remaining today:

James Lockey, MD, MS and Richard C. Bird, Jr., MD, MPH

LMES contracted these physicians to determine if illnesses are occupational.

First meeting with ill workers, September of 1996..

Brief physical examinations of workers, early in 1997.Interim medical reports issued months later with recommendations for tests.

Doctors find significant number of group sensitized to beryllium.

Lockey states at meeting with ill workers, "anyone who has worked at the site has been          exposed to beryllium - it's just a matter now of who contracts the disease."

Doctors take it upon themselves to study validity of urine thiocyanate tests.

Ill workers tested for heavy metals and PCBs even though doctors say these it is unlikely these will show up due to time elapsed and deposition in bone and organs.

LMES secretly tape records private meeting of doctors with the ill workers.

Workers showing elevated test results asked to repeat tests to be sent to other laboratories.

Workers with neuropsychological findings asked to repeat tests.

Today, most workers are finished with testing and waiting for final reports.

Medical evaluations that should have taken only a few weeks, have now taken years.

Doctors ignore significance of immune system compromise from exposure to heavy metals.

Testing of workers is inconsistent.

Workers do not have faith or confidence that health issues have been evaluated adequately

K-25, now known as East Tennessee Technology Park, remains an EPA Superfund Site

There are currently 165 Federal facility sites on the National Priority List.

EPA has never done the required inspection of the K-25 Site.

Workers are not instructed or informed of Superfund status.

Plans are being made for a railroad museum to be built at the K-25 Site.

Plans are underway for a computer training center to be built close to the K-25 labs.

Contaminated buildings are leased and staffed with untrained private sector workers.

What's wrong with this picture?

      Innocent and unsuspecting newcomers will be health problems of tomorrow.

TSCA Incinerator continues to burn hazardous waste even from out-of-state

Unresolved health issues, surrounding controversy, lack of emissions monitoring.

Why can't this monster be shut down?  My lawyer once said that the incinerator should be preserved as a crime scene, and I laughed.  In reality, was there some logic to this remark?

Workers tell of the steam flow down from the incinerator stack and of walking through it.

TSCAI is allowed to release .6 pound of beryllium to the air per year.  Why?  Sensitization and disease can result from minute quantities of beryllium.  Is it thought that no one breathes any of the beryllium that is released from the stack?   What comes out, has to come down somewhere!

TSCAI has a thermal release vent that opens and vents directly to the atmosphere when there is a malfunction.  Workers are not told of this.  I have stood there after an accident to do my job and was never told of this.  There are many documented thermal release vent occurrences.

I worked a lot at the TSCAI and was never provided training on hazardous chemicals

I often smelled a sweet, fruity smell at TSCAI.  I was always told that it was probably carbon  tetrachloride.  I was never told and did not know until recently that this is a carcinogen.*    The right to know

Never were workers warned or told that there was a possibility of exposure to beryllium, or cyanide, or heavy metals simply by being at the K-25 site.

I was aware there could be some radiation exposure and wore a dosimeter.  DOE nor LMES    ever informed me that there could be chemical exposure and I was not monitored for such.

  DOE and LMES took no biological samples from workers to prove/disprove concerns.

Because I and others accepted employment at the K-25 Site, that did not give anyone the right to poison us with heavy metals.  I do not buy the discretionary function defense.

Workers were lied to and told there was no source of cyanide at K-25.  We beg to differ.

Workers were lied to and told there was no beryllium at K-25.

We have office workers at K-25 who are sensitized to beryllium.  Were they ever made aware of the risk to their health by even just sitting in an office?  This is so wrong.

Classification is still used flippantly to cover-up what the workers are not wanted to know even though such things are not national security issues.

My personal experience as a radiation protection technician at K-1420

This was a mostly shut down facility when I worked there in the late eighties/early nineties

I asked several times if there were transuranics, only to be told there were none.  Today I know there are transuranics in the areas where I worked.  I was lied to by management.

The limits for beta/gamma contamination was and remains 5000 disintegrations per minute.

      I removed the cord to a coffee maker in an office hallway that read 220,000 dpm.

      I shut down the lunchroom with readings of 9000 dpm on water fountain intake vents, 6000      dpm on floor tiles, light fixtures, and window brackets, 6000 - 9000 dpm on door vents.  The    lunchroom was reopened after many decontamination efforts, and removal/installation of a new floor.

I and my coworker contaminated our work boots on a daily basis.  We begged for the building  to be established as a shoe cover area.  Our repeated requests were denied.

I would have challenged anyone to take a geiger counter into the high bay area and find even one spot that did not have elevated radiation readings.

I often found contaminated sections of asphalt outside of the building.  My management told me to ignore this type of thing because we didn't have enough personnel to deal with it.

I watched the build-up of radioactive contamination progress weekly on the arms and seats of conference room chair until they surpassed the limit and had to be removed.  The contamination was being carried out to clean areas by the workers.

We were not required to wear protective clothing in the contamination area.  I wore company issued khakis or my personal jeans from home.

Air sampling was practically non-existent.  Results took days to get from the lab.  There was no real time air monitoring.

Radiation protection was grossly understaffed.  There was usually only two technicians to cover K-1420, TSCAI, and another large facility K-1037.  We did the best that we could.
 
 *    The tragedy of my father

My father worked as an engineering aid at Y-12 from 1953 - 1969.

I can still remember the marks on his face from wearing a respirator.  The marks didn't fade    away until long after he was home for the day.

I remember the hair loss that happened very quickly.

I remember him telling my mother repeatedly to make sure that an autopsy be done on his body if he were to die as he told her over and over there was something out there hurting him.

I remember him mentioning glove boxes and beryllium, but he would never really tell us details about his work.

I still remember the cold, hard feel of his face as I kissed his cheek good-bye for the last time.

My father died of a massive heart attack at the age of 41 March 22, 1969.  He left a young widow, a 15 year-old daughter, and a 12 year-old son.  Our lives were changed forever.

My mother refused to have an autopsy done.  She was advised by a local mortician not to bother with it because she would never know what was really found.

Do I blame Y-12 for the premature death of my father?  Indeed I do.  I will always believe his   work there took his life.

*    Tennessee and Homegrown

I am 46 years old and live in Oak Ridge, Tennessee.  I have never lived any further away than a 30 minute drive from here.

My mother lives within minutes, as does my 90 year-old grandmother, as does my brother and his children, as does my aunts and uncles and cousins, and as does my two grown sons.

My family's love of home is apparent.  We do not leave this area or each other.

After witnessing the pain and the suffering due to the health crisis from the Oak Ridge             Reservation, I will break the chain; I will leave Oak Ridge and East Tennessee far behind me.

Death and disability are not acceptable costs for doing business or for making a living.

Unfortunately, there is a complacency here and an acceptance.  We were raised with these plants around us.  Guess we fail to realize that it is not common across the country for a nuclear weapons plant to be located right behind the local K-Mart and Kroger.

I know too much and have seen too much to be able to stay here.  This is not a healthy or a safe place to live.

I cannot make the choice to leave for others, but I look forward to the day that I am financially able to leave here.  With a healthier environment and with the passing of time, maybe I will reclaim some of my health that has been taken from me.

*    Concern for others

Did you notice that all 4 witnesses who testified at the 3/22/00 hearing stressed that their          testimony was not to help themselves so much but to help others?  That is the prevailing sentiment among the ill workers.  I have heard it and said it myself time and time again.  Please do not allow what has happened to us to happen to anyone else.

  My telephone rings often with anonymous calls from workers who are now ill but afraid to let their concerns and illnesses be known.  Retaliation does happen regardless of how hard DOE  and LMES will deny otherwise.  Examples are made of workers who are outspoken.I also receive calls from former coworkers who are now ill.  They ask - "Are there doctors to   help me?  Why did it take so long to affect me?  What happens when I can no longer continue  to work?"

I have seen lives shattered by occupational disability, former vibrant and energetic people          reduced to the pace of a turtle, homes lost, savings depleted, bankruptcies, and the loss of all   that some of these people have worked for all of their lives.

I challenge your committee to secure the ages and the numbers of people who were employed at K-25 who are now disabled and depend on disability insurance or social security to sustain them.  Where else would you see such a large group of young men and women who have been struck down in the very prime of life?

Whistleblower retaliation as experienced firsthand

After my relocation to Y-12 in the fall of 1996, I was amazed that job duties assigned to me     were solely clerical and did not call upon my skills as a radiation protection technician.

I worked in the radiological training group but was never allowed to prepare or conduct training even though I had been a trainer for 3 years at K-25.

I kept brought my DOE certification as a radiation protection technician up to current status    but was still denied work as a technician.  I had permanent medical restrictions that made field survey work impossible, but there were many other duties less physical in nature that could have drawn upon my skills in radiation protection.

I was allowed to go to part-time status on 4/1/97 due to health.  I worked extra hard to keep my job current with less hours.

Unexpectedly, I was told by my supervisor to complete paperwork about my job duties and that my job was to be evaluated to see if I was doing work consistent with my pay.  I thought to myself, "no - I'm doing clerical work and being paid as a technician - but it's not my fault as I have asked for more assignments more consistent with my skills - and I do my job as I am told."

I was keenly aware that I was the only person in a division of over 200 people who had been singled out for this job scrutiny.

After the powers that be had evaluated my job duties, I was suddenly given notice of an impromptu meeting.  I was amazed to see that 3 levels of supervision were present in addition  to a human resource person.

I was told that they had a job for me.  I was told that I could no longer work part-time.  I was told that if I did not accept this job, that I would never be offered another job in radiation protection and that I would not be allowed to keep my certifications current by attending radiation safety training that is required of all technicians..  I was told that if I refused the job they were offering, that my job level would be demoted and there would eventually be a cut in   pay.

At this point, they had my full attention.  "What is the job?", I asked.  The job was a full-time radiation survey job in a warehouse with very little heat and air conditioning.  It violated all of  my medical restrictions such as no exposure to temperature extremes, no bending, no lifting, no squatting, and etc.

I explained that there was no way I could hold down a full-time job and no way I could meet the physical demands with my medical conditions and restrictions.  I chose to remain in the job that I was doing against their threats of demotion and salary cut.

After that choice, I was ordered out of radiation safety classes.

I tried to make an issue of the unfair treatment and even thought that I would be covered by the Americans with Disabilities Act (see attachment IV). Was this ever an eye opener for me!

I was fired before the demotion and salary cut took place.

*                   Psychiatric fitness for duty and retaliation

Shortly after I was sent to Y-12 in 1996, my division asked me to submit paperwork for an     upgrade from an "L" clearance to a "Q" clearance.  I complied and noticed that everyone in my division had a "Q" clearance whether they needed it or not.

I worked in an uncleared area, scheduling and tracking training.  There was no hint of any type of work that would be classified.  Staff meetings were often held in the "Q" cleared area though.

I was summoned to DOE for a security interview.  I expected this because of my treatment for depression which included counseling and a psychiatrist.

The interview was tape recorded and conducted by a fast talking, nervous security investigator.  This was in January of 1997.

I had just learned from my friend Ann Orick that her husband Mack had serious lung problems and that some of his medical records had been blacked out making it impossible for him or his  doctors to know what he had been exposed to.  I shared her concern, and I viewed this action   as deplorable.

During the security interview, I vented my frustration and told the interviewer that I would      reveal the name of a substance if that information was necessary for a doctor to be able to help someone.  "Even if that substance was classified?", I was asked.  I replied that I would reveal it even if it were classified.

This was all a hypothetical situation.  In reality, I only knew of one part of something that I was told was classified.  My work history of eleven plus years did not have me dealing with      classified information or materials.

The investigator was pleased.  I felt like a fish that had just been hooked.  He never asked me if I knew of special precautions for medical situations or if I knew about declassification        procedures.  I know of these now, but I didn't then.

I was scheduled for a psychiatric interview with DOE consultant psychiatrist of 15 years, Dr.    Kenneth Carpenter.  He was to determine if I had a "defect in judgement and reliability."  The   interview took place on 4/23/97.

A report dated 5/1/97 and prepared by Dr. Carpenter conveyed his diagnosis of me to DOE.   Wrote Dr. Carpenter, "I would (be) concerned about her in a security setting because of her      poor common sense, logic and judgment, and because of her paranoid delusion symptoms."

My security clearance was suspended after that diagnosis.  I went through the formal appeals  process with DOE which resulted in a 2 day hearing and a subsequent appeal to that hearing..

Almost one  year after the psychiatric interview by Dr. Carpenter, I filed a medical malpractice lawsuit against him in Anderson County State Court.  It was almost another year before I was

given a court date for a jury trial.Meanwhile, my DOE appeals process was exhausted.  I received a letter in early March of 1999 to notify me that my clearance was being revoked.  My sworn statements that I had no malice or no reason to divulge classified information didn't matter.  My explanations that I would do everything humanly possible to get the name of a substance declassified before considering revealing it didn't matter.  It also didn't matter that the name of a substance was no longer a  classification issue as long as the name of a process or a building was not used in conjunction with the substance.  Remember, my statement in the security interview was all just a hypothetical.

On Friday, March 26, 1999, my supervisor called me to say she had just been notified to take me to the Y-12 Visitor Center.  Immediately, I called my attorney.  His response was spontaneous, "Sherrie, they are going to fire you."

He was right!  A DOE representative was there to give me the same paperwork that had been  mailed to my home two weeks earlier.  He said the decision about the fate of my job would now be up to LMES.

Didn't take LMES long to decide what to do with me.  I was fired for "security reasons" within a matter of minutes.

Two armed guards escorted me out where I sat with them in their vehicle for close to an hour   waiting for my supervisor to bring my wallet and car keys.

To my surprise, she drove up with her supervisor and I not only got my wallet and car keys but boxes of my things from my office.  This was right at shift change time on a Friday afternoon.  Everyone saw the spectacle that was being made of me as the boxes were unloaded into my car.  I believe this was deliberate.

I requested several times to go with an escort back to my office to retrieve the rest of my           personal items.  The requests were met with hostility, and I later received two boxes by mail.  I never did get everything, and I do know that others are allowed to return in order to get their things.  Oh well, just goes along with being "special" I suppose.  I had evolved to expect   "special" treatment at work.  I'm not saying that I was immune to the pain from "special"        treatment, just that I had grown somewhat used to it.

I failed to mention that the labor relations man, Charlie Miner, who fired me was the same man who dealt some very questionable treatment to me only a few months before the firing.  I had  complained about the mysterious weekend appearance of 37 B-25 boxes and 2 drums of PCB contaminated solids that had were being stored in the training building where I worked.  I had  reported this to the Environmental Protection Agency and to the Tennessee Department of Environment and Conservation.   To make a long story short, I was carted to Y-12 medical to for a psychological interview after I had supposedly exhibited "aberrant behavior."  The psychologist was not there so and would not be there the following week, so Mr. Miner forbade me to come to work until after the psychological interview.  That's all another story in itself!

My firing was on Friday, March 26, 1999 and the medical malpractice trial against Dr. Carpenter had already been scheduled for the following Wednesday.

ON MONDAY, APRIL 6, 1999 (LESS THAN 2 WEEKS OF MY FIRING) AN ANDERSON COUNTY JURY CONVICTED DR. KENNETH CARPENTER OF MEDICAL MALPRACTICE AND AWARDED A $600,000JUDGEMENT.Dr. Carpenter appealed the verdict and today he and I are awaiting notification of the date and time for oral arguments before the Eastern District Court of Appeals.  All legal briefs have been submitted.

As for me and my future.  I fully expect that the malpractice verdict will be upheld.  As I stated at the beginning of my testimony, I can run but I cannot hide.  I do intend to run, and I hope I can hide somewhat.  My husband and I plan to make a new home for ourselves in Sarasota, Florida with the money from the medical malpractice that took my job.  Only time will tell if ocean breezes and sunshine will aid as I try to recover from the torment and the illnesses that were bestowed upon me by DOE and LMES.  I have seen a small degree of improvement to my health since my firing a year ago.  I am thankful every day of my life that I no longer have to go to K-25 or Y-12.  I look forward to the day when my husband can also be free.  Freedom to flee comes to mind.  The bad memories that still hurt so deeply will fade with time.  In my new home, I surely won't be tormented daily by reading of the atrocities that take place with DOE and LMES.  And, I surely will see healthier and happier people than those I experience daily here in Oak Ridge.  I will leave family and friends behind.  There will be no regrets.  I have fought with full conviction over the past several years to fully expose the ugly face of DOE and LMES to the workers and to the community.

For the sake of my health, it will be time to move on.  As my husband tells me, "You will never put this fully behind you until you leave here."  Part of me grieves because where I used to see beauty here in East Tennessee and in Oak Ridge, I now see hardship, illness, and suffering.  It is no longer beautiful to me, and I very anxiously await the day that I leave it behind.  No, I cannot fully escape because I literally will be carrying a part of K-25 with me, deep within my body in the form of toxic contaminants.  I hope and pray that my condition does not worsen and that my health will improve.   Regardless, I owe it to myself and to my husband to strive for the best quality of life possible.  There is no doubt in my mind that neither of us will attain that pursuit in Oak Ridge, Tennessee.

Suggestions for Solutions:

Thank you for your time and your attention.  Thank you for considering my written testimony.

Please contact me if further information or clarification is desired.

Respectfully Submitted to the Senate on Governmental Affairs, this 29th day of March, 2000.
 
 

Sherrie Graham Farver
106 Gordon Road
Oak Ridge, Tennessee 37830
Telephone (423) 482-5023
E-Mail: dfarver@sprynet.com