[CPEO-MEF] Texas air base disease rates not elevated

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Texas air base disease rates not elevated from the National Desk
Published 11/13/2002 6:52 PM
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SAN ANTONIO, Nov. 13 (UPI) -- A four-year study released Wednesday shows
workers at the former Kelly Air Force Base in Texas did not suffer a
greater incidence of liver cancer, emphysema, or amyotrophic lateral
sclerosis, as had long been claimed.

Researchers writing in the Journal of Occupational and Environmental
Medicine said that 32,000 people who worked at Kelly from 1981 through
2000 were actually healthier than the general population.

"Overall, the study shows that that Kelly Air Force Base workforce is
generally healthy," said Lt. Col. Kenneth Cox, chief of the Air Force
Institute for Environment, Safety, and Occupational Health Risk
Analysis, who headed the study.

Activist groups and many doctors have long charged that a "lethal
cocktail" of cancer-causing chemicals including benzene and jet fuel,
which were stored in the base and leaked into the ground water, were
responsible for a spike in serious diseases among civilian employees and
residents around the former base.

While the report was being delivered at the Metro Health District's
Environmental Health Center on the southwest side, a group of protesters
stood outside chanting "Kelly causes disease!" and calling the report an
example of "environmental racism."

Scientists said they specifically studied rates of ALS, also known as
Lou Gehrig's Disease, in the Kelly work force, and found the incidence
to be consistent with the rest of the population.

This article can be viewed at:
http://www.upi.com/view.cfm?StoryID=20021113-063343-9106r

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