The Ramazzini Institute
for Occupational and Environmental Health Research   

Inside

Who Are We?

     On the 23rd of July, in Amarillo, Elizabeth Davis, new President of the Amarillo Metal Trades Council at DOE’s Pantex nuclear weapons facility was elected Chairperson and Chief Executive Officer of the Amarillo Health Consortium at the first annual meeting of the Consortium Board. The Consortium is sponsored by this Institute. Dr. Arthur Frank, of the University of Texas Health Center at Tyler and Drexel University School of Public Health, Consortium Medical Officer, reported on the NCI-supported cancer detection study he conducts with Dr. William Rom, NY University Medical Center, among Pantex active and former workers and the status of negotiations on a cooperative agreement with DOE for medical surveillance of former employees. Consortium President David Pompa reported on his work with a support group for beryllium-sensitive workers.
     Davis replaces Frank George, Jr. who was presented with a plaque from the Institute recognizing his pioneering work on behalf of the Consortium [pictured above.]

Board Elected, First Screening Planned

     The Amarillo Health Consortium, a new voluntary occupational health agency formed by a partnership of the Amarillo Metal Trades Council and The Ramazzini Institute, has elected an initial Board and put in place its first program objectives. The new agency will assist both workers at Pantex, the Department of Energy’s nuclear weapons facility in Amarillo, and other workers and their families in the Amarillo metropolitan area, at risk of occupational disease.
      The Metal Trades Council, an affiliate of the AFL-CIO, is a collective bargaining agent for the Pantex facility. The Institute is a multinational consortium of researchers and educators who specialize in occupational and environmental health.
     Frank George, Jr., President of the Metal Trades Council, is Board Chairman and Chief Executive Officer. David Pompa is President and Chief Operating Officer. Dr. Arthur Frank, Professor of Occupational and Environmental Medicine at the University of Texas Health Center at Tyler, is Medical Director. Sarah D. Ray is Secretary-Treasurer. National Liaison Officer is Michael Flynn, Director of Safety and Health for the International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers, of Upper Marlboro, MD..
     Community representatives on the Board are: Randy Braidfoot, an executive of Amarillo’s Asset Planning Group; Jackie A. Fox, President of the nurses union in the Amarillo VA Health Care System; and Jo Ann Cruz Perez, an officer of Amarillo’s Catholic Family Service.
     Pantex management is represented by Larrie Trent, Director of Environmental Safety and Health for BWXT Pantex. Employee representatives on the Board include Metal Trades Council Senior Union Safety Officer Sofia De los Santos, Donny Perry of the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers, and Liz Rodriguez of the Office and Professional Employees Union.
      The Institute is represented on the Board by Dr. Frank and Mr. Flynn, who are also members of the Institute’s Board.
     The new health agency will provide information, funding, oversight, coordination of health and social services, and facilitate biomedical and human ecological research in the prevention and intervention of occupational and environmental disease.
     Initial funding and organizing expenses have come from the Institute’s Selikoff Fund for Environmental and Occupational Cancer Research. Additional funds have been made available by the National Cancer Institute through Mt. Sinai-New York University Medical Center and the University of Texas Health Center at Tyler for a program of early cancer detection.
     A proposal has been submitted to the Department of Energy for medical surveillance of former Pantex employees. The proposal was reviewed and received the highest recommendation for funding in May by a scientific peer review committee convened by the Department. A contract has not yet been approved.
      The Consortium’s cancer detection screening will take place at the School of Nursing at West Texas A&M in Canyon, which is assisting the Consortium, for all active and former Pantex workers with 20 or more years of service. Other workers in the area at high risk of occupational cancer may also be eligible. Time and dates of the screening will be announced.
     The screening will be done by Professor William Rom of Mt. Sinai-New York University Medical Center and Dr. Frank, both internationally-recognized leaders in occupational and environmental medicine. Dr. Frank was recently appointed by the Department of Energy as a Physician Panel Member of the State claims Assistance Program, created by the Department to aid its new compensation program for nuclear workers with radiation, beryllium, asbestos and other toxic agent-associated disease contracted in the workplace.
     For more information on the screening, workers or family members should contact David Pompa at 806-383-9002, or write to the Amarillo Health Consortium, P.O. Box 50536, Amarillo, TX 79159.
     The Consortium will also continue and expand its support group for workers who have tested positive on a beryllium dust sensitivity test or who have been found to have Chronic Beryllium Disease through the Department of Energy’s beryllium workers medical surveillance program. All beryllium-sensitive workers are eligible for the cancer detection screening.
     The consortium is operating under the Institute’s charter as a Maryland not-for-profit corporation, registered with the Maryland Secretary of State and recognized by the Internal Revenue Service as a 501 (c) 3 charity. The Consortium in the future may choose to incorporate itself as a free-standing, independent agency.