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Former IAAP worker hopes compensation denials come to end John Rowe is learning the hard way that two out of three isn't enough. The longtime Burlington resident has been denied compensation since 2003 from a federal program for former atomic energy workers. While he still has one application pending -- for a brain tumor near his pituitary gland -- Rowe isn't optimistic that this time will be any different than before. Rowe, 82, has been experiencing deja vu since his first denial on May 6, 2004. The letters are always the same. The Department of Labor agrees he worked at the Iowa Ordnance Plant more than the requisite length of time and that he's a very sick man. But the department doesn't see a link between his illnesses and work on Line 1.

Former IAAP worker hopes compensation denials come to end John Rowe is learning the hard way that two out of three isn't enough. The longtime Burlington resident has been denied compensation since 2003 from a federal program for former atomic energy workers. While he still has one application pending -- for a brain tumor near his pituitary gland -- Rowe isn't optimistic that this time will be any different than before. Rowe, 82, has been experiencing deja vu since his first denial on May 6, 2004. The letters are always the same. The Department of Labor agrees he worked at the Iowa Ordnance Plant more than the requisite length of time and that he's a very sick man. But the department doesn't see a link between his illnesses and work on Line 1.

A 40-year time frame for cleaning up all of the toxins at the Iowa Army Ammunition Plant means the work of contractors seems to go at a snail's pace. Their work is further hindered by the inability to work in the winter months, when the soil and water they need to test and clean are frozen solid. However, in the five months since the IAAP Restoration Advisory Board last met, in their own small way each of the programs made progress. The board passed their updates on to the public during a meeting Thursday evening.

Free health screenings, available through University of Iowa studies of both Army and Department of Energy workers at the Iowa Army Ammunition Plant are continuing through this fall. Researchers are continuing to enroll people in the IAAP Munitions Workers Study. One aim of the research study, directed by Laurence Fuortes, M.D., professor of occupational and environmental health, is to assess exposure to beryllium alloys among conventional weapons workers at the plant. Participants also will be asked to complete a brief questionnaire and to provide a blood sample for analysis of beryllium sensitivity. Participation requires a 30- to 45-minute time commitment. Compensation is provided.

Many former atomic energy workers in southeast Iowa practically have to beg for compensation under the federal program specifically designed for them. Advertisement They go months without a response from the Department of Labor that oversees the program, and yet are expected to get their replies sent back in record time. Some letters simply go unanswered by the district offices. Then, they often wait years before finally being denied redress for protecting the country during the Cold War. And the former workers in Amarillo, Texas, at the Pantex site would love to have it that easy. "Why can't cumulative information be used to benefit other workers," said Sarah Ray, who is one of three people applying for a special exposure cohort for Pantex. "I don't get the feeling that they are truly creating a usable database. I think they're missing the boat."

Many former atomic energy workers in southeast Iowa practically have to beg for compensation under the federal program specifically designed for them. Advertisement They go months without a response from the Department of Labor that oversees the program, and yet are expected to get their replies sent back in record time. Some letters simply go unanswered by the district offices. Then, they often wait years before finally being denied redress for protecting the country during the Cold War. And the former workers in Amarillo, Texas, at the Pantex site would love to have it that easy. "Why can't cumulative information be used to benefit other workers," said Sarah Ray, who is one of three people applying for a special exposure cohort for Pantex. "I don't get the feeling that they are truly creating a usable database. I think they're missing the boat."

Had it. Fought it. Survived it. The words are stamped on the back of one of Paul Bell's T-shirts. "It" means his battle with kidney cancer 30 years ago, but the motto on a T-shirt he wore at a 2008 cancer walk could just as easily symbolize the 87-year-old Burlington man's struggle to get compensated for working on Line 1 at the Iowa Army Ammunition Plant.

Free health screenings, available through the University of Iowa, for those who worked for the Department of Defense at the Iowa Army Ammunition Plant, will wrap up in the next two to three months, and researchers are looking for another 200 participants. The program, initiated about two years ago, includes screening of sensitization to beryllium alloy and also aims to assess exposure to beryllium alloys among conventional weapons workers at the plant.

Leonard W. Duke survived being dragged by a truck when he was 7. Doctors said he wouldn't make it. As he grew older, three doctors subsequently told him he wouldn't live to be 30, another 10 years and to be 50. At 81, he's healthier than many of his fellow former Line 1 workers. Since doctors long have predicted his demise, Duke is not keen on visits to the doctor's office, even after he's suffered some recent dizziness. He does, however, trust Laurence Fuortes and his staff at the University of Iowa's College of Public Health's Burlington Atomic Energy Commission Plant-Former Worker Program. During a luncheon Thursday that honored former Iowa Army Ammunition workers who worked on Line 1 where secret atomic weapons were assembled between 1947 and 1975, people like Duke visited with fellow plant workers and the University of Iowa staff.

Leonard W. Duke survived being dragged by a truck when he was 7. Doctors said he wouldn't make it. As he grew older, three doctors subsequently told him he wouldn't live to be 30, another 10 years and to be 50. At 81, he's healthier than many of his fellow former Line 1 workers. Since doctors long have predicted his demise, Duke is not keen on visits to the doctor's office, even after he's suffered some recent dizziness. He does, however, trust Laurence Fuortes and his staff at the University of Iowa's College of Public Health's Burlington Atomic Energy Commission Plant-Former Worker Program. During a luncheon Thursday that honored former Iowa Army Ammunition workers who worked on Line 1 where secret atomic weapons were assembled between 1947 and 1975, people like Duke visited with fellow plant workers and the University of Iowa staff.

Leonard W. Duke survived being dragged by a truck when he was 7. Doctors said he wouldn't make it. As he grew older, three doctors subsequently told him he wouldn't live to be 30, another 10 years and to be 50. At 81, he's healthier than many of his fellow former Line 1 workers. Since doctors long have predicted his demise, Duke is not keen on visits to the doctor's office, even after he's suffered some recent dizziness. He does, however, trust Laurence Fuortes and his staff at the University of Iowa's College of Public Health's Burlington Atomic Energy Commission Plant-Former Worker Program. During a luncheon Thursday that honored former Iowa Army Ammunition workers who worked on Line 1 where secret atomic weapons were assembled between 1947 and 1975, people like Duke visited with fellow plant workers and the University of Iowa staff.

During the Vietnam War, the hell that was soldiers' daily lives sometimes was complicated by their exposure to plastic explosives and their neurotoxic effects. Back home, munitions workers faced similar nightmares. Though not wandering the jungle in search of Viet Cong, workers on the front lines at the Iowa Army Ammunition Plant knew that at any moment they could be injured or die in an explosion. And those who were lucky or smart enough to survive could have ended up like Mary Ludlow. Ludlow, a Wisconsin resident, worked two stints at the plant in the late-1960s, totaling about six months. Ludlow left the plant a second time, and for good, when her then-husband decided to pursue a graduate degree at Iowa State University in Ames.

During the Vietnam War, the hell that was soldiers' daily lives sometimes was complicated by their exposure to plastic explosives and their neurotoxic effects. Back home, munitions workers faced similar nightmares. Though not wandering the jungle in search of Viet Cong, workers on the front lines at the Iowa Army Ammunition Plant knew that at any moment they could be injured or die in an explosion. And those who were lucky or smart enough to survive could have ended up like Mary Ludlow. Ludlow, a Wisconsin resident, worked two stints at the plant in the late-1960s, totaling about six months. Ludlow left the plant a second time, and for good, when her then-husband decided to pursue a graduate degree at Iowa State University in Ames.

During the Vietnam War, the hell that was soldiers' daily lives sometimes was complicated by their exposure to plastic explosives and their neurotoxic effects. Back home, munitions workers faced similar nightmares. Though not wandering the jungle in search of Viet Cong, workers on the front lines at the Iowa Army Ammunition Plant knew that at any moment they could be injured or die in an explosion. And those who were lucky or smart enough to survive could have ended up like Mary Ludlow. Ludlow, a Wisconsin resident, worked two stints at the plant in the late-1960s, totaling about six months. Ludlow left the plant a second time, and for good, when her then-husband decided to pursue a graduate degree at Iowa State University in Ames.

New legislation introduced this year could prevent problems Paul Bell, and many other former Iowa Army Ammunition Plant workers have had over the years trying to get compensation through the EEOICPA. Advertisement The Energy Employees Occupational Illness Compensation Program Act was passed in 2000. While amendments have been made -- and responsibility for the program has shifted from the Department of Energy to the Department of Labor -- still fewer than a third of applicants receive compensation. That's why the presidents of construction and metal trades unions and the University of Iowa Atomic Energy Commission Plant-Former Workers Program are supporting the Charlie Wolf Nuclear Employees Compensation Act that can help former workers get the payment they're due.