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The
Guardian (UK) Cancer Risk Higher At Rocky Flats Plant DENVER (AP) - Rocky Flats employees who assembled nuclear weapons components and inhaled radioactive particles had an increased risk of lung cancer, a new study found. The study tracked 16,303 people who worked at the plant between 1952 and 1989. Dr. James Ruttenber, who led the study, said the research offers the first concrete information in the United States that lung cancer is linked to plutonium ingestion. He said researchers will study the data to determine if standards for handling plutonium should be changed. "One case study is not enough,'' he said. ``We need to make sure that we have robust findings before we make sweeping changes.'' ... Arvada resident Wally Gulden, 65, who worked at Rocky Flats for 26 years, said he wasn't surprised by the findings or satisfied with the study. "There are more of us out there with cancers not related to the ones that were studied,'' said Gulden, who has non-Hodgkin's lymphoma. "I worked in a hot spot and I know I ingested plutonium, and I want to know if it's related to my work.'' Gulden has filed a claim under the Radiation Exposure Compensation Act program, which compensates people suffering from cancer and other illnesses as a result of their work on Cold War-era weapons projects. "I hoped for more answers, but there aren't any,'' Gulden said. The
study also found that Rocky Flats workers were 2.5 times more likely to
develop brain tumors than other people. Researchers plan to examine those
findings further.
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