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Article: Defense Department fails to screen for fatal beryllium disease.
- Article from:
- Chicago Tribune (Chicago, IL)
- Article date:
- March 2, 2002
CopyrightCOPYRIGHT 2002 Chicago Tribune. This material is published under license from the publisher through the Gale Group, Farmington Hills, Michigan. All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Gale Group. (Hide copyright information)
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Byline: Sam Roe
CHICAGO _ U.S. military personnel have been exposed to the highly toxic metal beryllium at dozens of Army, Air Force, Navy and Marine Corps facilities, with some levels exceeding legal safety limits, a Chicago Tribune investigation has found.
Despite the serious risks, the Department of Defense has ignored federal health guidelines by failing to provide simple blood tests to determine if workers have been harmed.
The Defense Department's inaction is in sharp contrast to steps taken by the Department of Energy, which has tested thousands of its weapons workers and discovered that hundreds of people have been harmed by beryllium, ...