Enc.

ADVISORY BOARD ON RADIATION AND WORKER HEALTH

4676 Columbia Parkway, MS: C-46 

Cincinnati, Ohio 45226

(513) 533-6825

CHAIRMAN

James M. Melius, M.D., Dr. PH.

 Albany, New York

MEMBERS

Henry Anderson, M.D.

 Madison, Wisconsin

Josie Beach

 Kennewick, Washington 

Bradley P. Clawson

 Rexburg, Idaho

R. William Field, Ph.D. 

 Iowa City, Iowa

Michael H. Gibson

 Franklin, Ohio

Mark A. Griffon

 Salem, New Hampshire

Richard Lemen, Ph.D.

 Canton, Georgia

James E. Lockey, M.D.

 Cincinnati, Ohio

Wanda I. Munn

 Richland, Washington

John W. Poston, Sr., Ph.D.

 College Station, Texas

Robert W. Presley

 Seymour, Tennessee

David B. Richardson, Ph.D.

Chapel Hill, North Carolina

Genevieve S. Roessler, Ph.D.

 Elysian, Minnesota

Phillip Schofield

 Bosque Farm, New Mexico

Paul L. Ziemer, Ph.D.

 Lafayette, Indiana

STAFF

EXECUTIVE SECRETARY

Theodore M. Katz, MPA

 Atlanta, Georgia

COMMITTEE MANAGEMENT 

Zaida Burgos

 Atlanta, Georgia

February 24, 2010

The Honorable Harry Reid

Majority Leader 

United States Senate

522 Hart Senate Office Building

Washington, DC 20510

Dear Senator Reid: 

This letter is in response to your inquiry dated February 3, 2010, to the 

Chairman of the Advisory Board on Radiation and Worker Health (ABRWH) 

regarding Special Exposure Cohort (SEC) status for people who worked at the 

Nevada Test Site (NTS) during the period from January 1, 1962 to December 

31, 1992. I was recently designated the new Chairman of the ABRWH by 

President Obama, replacing Dr. Paul Ziemer.

At the Board’s recent meeting in Manhattan Beach, California, the Board voted 

unanimously to support the recently updated National Institute of Occupational 

Safety and Health (NIOSH) evaluation report on the NTS SEC petition and to 

recommend the addition of an SEC class for employees who worked at NTS

during the period from January 1, 1962 to December 31, 1992. The Board’s 

letter to the Department of Health and Human Services Secretary, Kathleen 

Sebelius, recommending this SEC petition be granted will be sent as soon as 

the necessary supporting information has been compiled. 

In your letter you also mentioned three other issues related to the overall 

Energy Employees Illness Compensation Program Act (EEOICPA): the 250-

day rule, chronic lymphocytic leukemia, and additions to the list of SEC-covered 

cancers such as, but not limited to, basal cell carcinoma of the skin. 

The Board is currently examining the issue of how to address claimants who 

worked at sites included in the SEC but who have worked less than 250 days. 

The Board’s ongoing evaluation of this issue includes those working at NTS. A 

work group of the Board is preparing a recommendation to the full Board on this 

issue. Their recommendation should be completed in time for the next full 

Board meeting scheduled for May 2010. 

NIOSH is in the process of submitting a regulatory proposal to HHS to remove 

the exclusion of Chronic Lymphocytic Leukemia (CLL) from the types of cancer

for which NIOSH conducts radiation dose reconstructions and for which 

EEOICPA claimants may be compensated. NIOSH has developed a 

methodology to conduct radiation dose reconstructions for CLL, which would 

allow nuclear weapons workers with this cancer to potentially be compensated. 

Implementing such a change falls within the regulatory discretion of HHS.
The Secretary Page 2

Should HHS proceed with making regulatory changes regarding CLL, the Board would advise 

HHS on the rulemaking.

NIOSH reported to Congress in December, 2009 on its evaluation of the relationship between 

radiation exposure and cancers that are not currently included on the "specified cancers" list. 

As you know, this list specifies the types of cancers that can be compensated under the SEC 

provisions of EEOICPA. The NIOSH report identified basal cell carcinoma as a skin cancer 

that is similarly "radiogenic" in nature as other cancers on the specified cancer list. There is no 

further action required on the part of NIOSH or the Department of Health and Human Services 

(HHS) with respect to this report. The specified cancer list is established in EEOICPA and can 

be amended only by legislation.

We appreciate your interest in these matters. If you or your staff has any further questions, 

please let us know.

Thank you for your continued interest in the Energy Employees Illness Compensation Program 

and the activities of this Board.

 Sincerely,

 [Signature on file]

 

 James M. Melius, M.D., Dr. Ph.

 Chairman, ABRWH