Governor Vilsack Backs Nuclear Weapons Workers in Their Requests for IIlness Compensation

Governor Vilsack Backs Nuclear Weapons Workers in Their Requests for IIlness Compensation

Governor Tom Vilsack urged a federal health advisory board today to support nuclear weapons workers' claims for compensation for illnesses related to their work at the Iowa Army Ammunition Plant in Middletown.

"It is abundantly clear that these Iowans, these Cold War heroes as they have been called, were often made ill because of their exposure to radioactive and other hazardous materials," Vilsack said. "The workers and their families deserve to have health care security and the financial compensation that has been authorized by Congress," Vilsack said. "No longer should they be subjected to unwarranted delays, excuses and stonewalling."

Vilsack also noted that thousands of Iowans worked diligently for decades under the strictest of secrecy restrictions as they turned the Middletown plant into the lynchpin of the U.S. nuclear weapons industry.

The board, meeting in Cedar Rapids today through Wednesday, will make recommendations to the secretary of Health and Human Services on matters related to compensation for the workers at the IAAP.

http://www.governor.state.ia.us/news/2005/april/april2505_1.html