ROCKETDYNE HEALTH STUDY SET TO BE RELEASED FRIDAY.Byline: Lisa Mascaro Daily News Staff Writer More than 18 months after a study linked higher cancer mortality rates The introduction to this article provides insufficient context for those unfamiliar with the subject matter. Please help [ improve the introduction] to meet Wikipedia's layout standards. You can discuss the issue on the talk page. to radiation exposure among workers at Rocketdyne, a companion study of worker exposure to chemicals is scheduled to be released Friday. The study, by UCLA UCLA University of California at Los Angeles UCLA University Center for Learning Assistance (Illinois State University) UCLA University of Carrollton, TX and Lower Addison, TX researchers, caps nearly seven years of investigation into worker health at the field lab where rocket engines have been tested for decades, and where some community members have called for health studies of their own. ``This is just the next step in the process that hopefully will eventually answer questions from people in the community,'' said Rocketdyne spokesman Dan Beck. ``I think when the radiation study rolled out in September of '97 a lot of the employees had questions about chemical exposure. They were promised by UCLA that this study would answer those questions. I think people are certainly anticipating that.'' The study, conducted by the same four University of California, Los Angeles UCLA comprises the College of Letters and Science (the primary undergraduate college), seven professional schools, and five professional Health Science schools. Since 2001, UCLA has enrolled over 33,000 total students, and that number is steadily rising. professors and researchers who conducted the radiation study, investigates cancer mortality rates among workers exposed to various toxic chemicals used in rocket making. Investigators reviewed company health records of employees who had worked at the facility since the 1950s to determine their exposure to various chemicals and any implications for their health, officials said. Results of the study are scheduled to be released Friday and Saturday during various meetings scheduled with workers at the field lab. Public meetings are scheduled for Friday night and Saturday in Simi Valley Simi Valley (sē`mē, sĭm`ē), city (1990 pop. 100,217), Ventura co., SW Calif. in an oil, fruit, and farm region; laid out 1887, inc. 1969. . Notices were being mailed this week to 20,500 people - from rocket engineers to maintenance workers - who had been employed at the facility since the 1950s. ``It's really in the interest of the workers that this information be out and known,'' said Larry Bilick, a spokesman for the Public Health Institute, which is coordinating the study for the state Department of Health Services Department of Health Services may refer to:
The Department of Energy, which contracted with Rocketdyne to operate part of the 2,000-acre facility, funded the study after the community raised concerns following reports in 1989 that radiation and chemicals had leaked into the soil. UCLA was chosen to conduct the study, launched in 1992, which cost more than $630,000. It includes both the survey of radiation exposure on workers and Friday's report on chemical exposure. Some community members have been lobbying for years for a health study of the neighbors, which officials have said could be considered if the UCLA worker study showed significant cancer mortality rates among employees. ``The public has been concerned for a long time. This has been a concern in the community,'' said Barbara Johnson Barbara Johnson (b. 1947) is an American literary critic and translator. She is currently a Professor of English and Comparative Literature and the Frederic Wertham Professor of Law and Psychiatry in Society at Harvard University. , a local resident who is a community member of the advisory panel appointed to oversee implementation of the study. ``I hope they can see the way clear to do a community study to allay al·lay tr.v. al·layed, al·lay·ing, al·lays 1. To reduce the intensity of; relieve: allay back pains. See Synonyms at relieve. 2. the fears those in the community have.'' The advisory panel, which is scheduled to convene following the public meeting on Saturday, is expected to discuss the possibility of conducting a health study of residents. When released in 1997, the radiation study found that Rocketdyne workers who had been exposed to radiation had increased death risks from cancer to the blood and lymphatic system lymphatic system (lĭmfăt`ĭk), network of vessels carrying lymph, or tissue-cleansing fluid, from the tissues into the veins of the circulatory system. , such as leukemia leukemia (l  kē`mēə), cancerous disorder of the blood-forming tissues (bone marrow, lymphatics, liver, spleen) characterized by excessive production of immature or mature and lymphoma. PUBLIC MEETINGS Public meetings on the Rocketdyne Worker Health Study will be at 7 p.m. Friday and 1 p.m. Saturday at the Clarion Posada po·sa·da n. A Christmas festival originating in Latin America that dramatizes the search of Joseph and Mary for lodging. [American Spanish, from Spanish, lodging, from posar, Royal Hotel, 1775 Madera Road, Simi Valley. A public meeting of the Worker Health Study Advisory Panel will be at 2:30 p.m. Saturday. For more information, call (800) 970-6680. CAPTION(S): Box BOX: PUBLIC MEETINGS (See text) |
|
||||||||||||
Printer friendly
Cite/link
Email
Feedback
Reader Opinion