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rr K l. t happen . But ~y TT folks tell ~e tl nt 

t h r • ,, n-umber of issues >Ssociated w tlr 1 u t 1ng 

tho~ new process rlow ~hat you saw lrd maklno 

i • work the way .:e ""ant 1: to ~.o:oz k and m •k inq sure 

th numbPrs ar~ b~i:t and done in an ccura~ 

~ nn r. So we're te3ting that pl.ece r1ght n w, 

and before it gees on the weo site w w nt rr. Ke 

sure it repo~ts what we want it to r~port and we 

don• t confuse people or g1vc then niainforttnt 1on 

So l thinl~ in ::.he next fe·v w~"ks you • r"' r:J lug t 

ee 1 mul l iple number of chang•~ on our w ·! site 

11 1d t h ink they'll be more 111 Lo1nht l ivr r.h,ln w• 've 

l>eon i u t.:he pa st, and 1 hr)pe tlley' I I bn wr>ll 

lOC lvr•d 

OR. ZIEMER : 

IIICI hrr, I '1- _.-me back. tt.y question 1 a eng 111 

1 n s of mnnpower issues, an::l it rray be t:lral Dr. 

Toohey WJ.ll have :o ~elp 1nswer it, but: no•...- tl<~t 

yo••re at a place where you•r sort of ~rank ng 

out a goodly numb~r of do e r cons~ru tl ns nd 

k nd of ge~t1n9 anead of the backl g, h w ar ~e 

do nt manpower-wise 1n hav1nq los 

r constructlonists ava_labl~ to actu lly hnn lle 

MS . DIMUZIO: Yea! , rlck, do you want to 1 

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mean • I know approximately how n:any staff you 

have, but. 

DR . TOOHEY: That's okay. That's why 1 ome 

Lo these c -~~gs. 

Di k -oohey, ORJ..U. t"e hav·~ - let. • s s 

fol •ime and three or four p rt time external 

dose r constructoxs, and 'ole feel that's ad q t 

That !at's go1ng ·.rery well. 

:oJe hav• about tha half a dozen full tl e 

•nd 20 po~r t time inter:1al dose reconstttlctor . TIS 

I 'm tlt e the health phys1 ·isr.s on t ht2 Board 1rc 

we 11 awa t e, that's a rare~ brPed. And t;o l.Je 

honerll, r i ght. n o 1·1 Lliat'F> '.-J he·t e we' r e e n co tt tlt,_,t•l lllJ 

1 l>it. •>f 1 bott:leneci<. 

needin~ deto~iled internal r.loae reconAtlll<'l ion t:. l 111 

w nLicipated. We've rte1eloped some grottplrtg 

rn t l odu wh1ch oas1cally looks at do t.hey ct 1 1 y 

h v pos t.ive otoassay resrlts 1~ r.nei1 monitorlnq 

aa , laow - dny of these results exceed n1 tl 

MDA, ar th~re ir.cid~nc r~porcs o~ ~hings 

.ndicative of an ~ntrke o~ a wo~nd or som th n1 

ik tha•. And as ~~·s tlrn1ng ou~. a hiqher 

fraction of tne cases really need to be nann d by 

exp r tencen SPn1or 1nLern tl dosunet!"lst.s, nd 

we're short on those people. So we've tak•n a 

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On· is to try t'> f~nci ll"Olc. 

And to be honeo;:., I'm not: opt:inistlc w. w1ll 

c n iind whole bunc.n more availabl• . Ana the 

ther way 1s con~1nu!ng t' dev~lop sorn• m re 

grad d pproach~s to do1nq 1nternal rlos1metry so 

that mor• ot th canes can b a1equately h•nal•d 

by 1 as xper1encca lnt:ernal doslmettlst:s. 

We're also looting at some improvements in 

th I'~BA software pacKage and things like th ~ 

·rh re trc st 111 som~ expos tre citcumot.•nc s wher 

th procu m c u take a:1 inordinate amoum:: of ~ 1'!1"' 

to do • d~a cnlc tlilt 1or., l1ke 1 hree hours or 

omethiug like thal. And we•~e wotklnq Wlth Tony 

.Jew es o 1 esol ve awl incpt JVe some o! those J.stfuea. 

But basi~ally we're doing everything WA can to get 

~tore nlcrnnl oosimetry c~paoil1ty ava1 able 

DR. MELIUS: I'm qAtting to the end of my 

qu st ons. In - aqain, I'd also like to 

on r u t L rry and th staff. ior the .ines 

ross ng in th rignt d1r CLlOn now. I th1nk tha· 

1s , yo1 know, s.gn1f1can::. achievPmeut aud I 

re1lly th1nk yot and 1t • s good. It's ood f r 

thA V• rall p1oqran ar.d f n t:he cla1mallt s ou• 

tlcrc t:o kno~ thn~ w •re starLing to e~r into ~tte 

l~ckl•J. 

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I do think it would be h~lpf~l for us as a 

Bo rd, and 1 also th1n1t !:or you 111 ;:;hese :neet1n~s. 

to present SO!Tie of j'OUr proJec::ions. ~O:h r 

wh r <He t.h1ngs going, whcr~ do you th nk wha· 

will hnpp n over the ll"Xt qu.-trtei or so fort.h. 

hnd and where issues l1ke the one th t 01 k 

Toohey j tst:. tr.entioned are corning up that mny slo.~ 

dow11 c~rtn1n cases, but -- ·cause I 'CilUS• 

think, iC r und<>rEltand the process and tins a11t 

so f tr, you are - you'rP sort of ncceleratlng the 

rate at which you're doi n3 aose t·econst:ructlons. 

so I think the line's going to keep qo1nq Jn a 

very pas1t1vc direction. 1->'e don• t; knC•W t.h• cla me 

coming in, clvicusly, but we certainly I tlunk 

you an h v o~re prOJ~'Ction on where yoa •t e 

~o1nq, and I ·hin~ that would be usetul to present 

111d hew co U" lind so forth Wlt:h that. 

MR. ELLIOTT: Thank you iot your t houghLs and 

yo tr co·nmer t:s, und w.~· re - we• re confident th<1l 

th dos reconstructions thnt we have completed 

1 e done so with sound science and r.hey are 

suffic1ently accur1te. And wnat we're work1na on 

rt 11 r now is rl e tlt!l"l1ness aspecr., nnd we are 

t:tyi 19 our b nt to r~mp up and brtna s much 

capacity ~o u~ar as ~e can on that particu.at 

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asp ct. of linaliz1ng rtose recons~ruct~on 

We're not, however, very qood 

prognosticators. ,·:e our crystal bal- s not s 

cl ar •S we'd l1ke i t t.o h• and we oon't t. ua to 

do n yPod a JOb :n forecasting as ~ would lik 

0 1 v ously no •cause we hoped ~e'd be - ~e·d • n 

·h •t • ne cross the blue lln~ back i~ Decemh r r 

even tlove:~~ber, nu:: we'l- take your comments to 

he •rt ar d se"' "'hat we can ';ole can pro')ect r 

you. 

DR . MELIUS : Even i! it's just a Jllnl t; r •l 

six mon l !1 c.r sc ~t:h i ng , I t:h i nk -- w!J,.. . , yu11 ( • 1 

CO l l i i ri unt: -- mo r e co n t1de n t: about r.he IOJ e • au l 1 1111 

d llcl l i fJ d e•. 

MR. EL LIOTT: 1 t 111nk 

''p r o ect:•, wl.a t we can t alK about 1s l ssu s ik 

"''' l D~ k m• ncic::eo ::hat h'e hadn't: antl 1p t d s 

clearly or as well, oostacles 1n our way tow rd 

s c s , and we surely need to corernun1cat. t:hoo 

t y u so you u~derstand what ~·re fac1na nd 

an J t h come up a lmost on a wePk!y bas1s, n m 

lit:Llc scnnario :hat we h•dn't dn~~clpated t:h t 

IeJUir s as to go hack to the dra ~ng boarl ni 

t iaur ou~ a way to worx ~hrouqh lt and 01 w rk 

rour d 1t 

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DR. ZIEMER: ~arry or H~rcha. could you ls 

very br1e f ly speak to manpower .lssues 'A'lth n Nl SH 

with t espcc-t to the flo~o· and so on? How I ow 

1 wo doing thete? 

MR. ELLIOTT: H~-1, we hav~ ~1 full t.mr 

statf. We hav~ not experienced any partrcul r 

oottlcnccks with regard t our worK in revlewin 1 

nntl proviotnq direct:ion to ORAU. 

We huve - we're in th.., proc.,ss of -.ddlnq 

he llth c-omnunication spec-i oltst to ass1sc: Chr s 

Elli on because we have h••!~ work to oo in th t 

reg rd. l~e rea_ize ;;hat. Ana she's a one peraou 

shoo a11rt certainly needs the additional he.p ar11 

aupport. 

We are finishing up fill1ng t~e last two 

henlth phys1c1st posltion~ th~c we've hod p n. 

~e I hink we've got the f1nal two canaidn• s 

idcncifted and WD think they're very gotd, o~d n 

wi 11 i:Jd to our staff RO!ll•' internal dos• 

exp rlenced. 

We hnve .,_,e feel \-Oe have an adequat.:t! publ 

ht! t.:h advtsor team. The.;e are tn.::o folks th t r 

t.:he ftont llne points of c~o~:T.U:":1Ca c !.On with the 

ll m nt <l!d handle the phone calls an l they 

the h mp ons o: t. t-.e cl i ant. Th.:se are th 

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folks tha:. l -- I supervise directly ana 1 ask 

then co be champions o= t~e c!ai~a~~. and ·.,.•c1n .. 

t.he11 to 1der.::iry •.oays cha:: -- ident.i:y cla!.ns that 

need co be mo~Pd :hrough. ident.l.!y ways that we 

can improve processir.g o:: =!aims, and they•r 

physicists :ry1ng ::c pu: a new cla1- c~der chel.I 

tlOSes ana say can': we move c~is for~ard tot this 

r~ason or :hat reason . 

Righ: now I ch~nk -- I think we're adequntely 

staffed dOd I don't see a,y need to try to tegu~st 

more at ~h~s point in time. 

DR. MELIUS : Seeing Ted Katz in the uudiencP, 

I have to ask this questivn, though . 1h<~t is tht• 

sLa"us o• the SEC regulation? 

MR. ELLIOTT: \\ell, the stat'-ls of t.h..., SEC 

rule •- that we have addressed the publ~c comments 

tha::. we had been provl.aec:i. and redra::ced ::.h"! rule, 

DR. MELIUS: : ::.hink t.ha::. the - - r guess l 

I have conc~r~s abo~~ -- and I k~o~ ~arry ~an·~ be 

reore prec1s: i~ giv~~g ~s a torecaat on that nc I 

don't mean to ask n~~ :o lO ~hat. B'-lt: ! !:ave some 

real concerns tha::. cr.~s h~s gone on tot so long 

and we as a Board have be"!n very patient Wlth 

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I hi 11 • We UIHlCl Dt tnd some ot t ho> rl i l fJ.culrlC!fl 

involved. nut t the same t 1me !' 11 ;:.),ern ar• a 

lot o f cla1~nnts 01: .. there that ~re very con rn d 

but th1s. J· -· "'e':!:e about to r.te=. I w 

hop , i 1.to our review of ::he dos•~ teconsttuctJ.on 

And Wlthout knowing wha::•s going to be 1n th E 

rule, there's some ll~1t t:J.ons to what we c n oo 

11 terms of aose reconstructlon rev1ew. And I 

w 11lcl l i'i<" 11s n11 1 Board Lo, you knew. con1licl r , 

you know . se1td ir1g a letter to the Secretary 1sk i nq 

th t ::h1s be expedJ.teo as ~uch as possibl~ 1" t s 

p0 Ill in t i rn~> • 1 1 • s been a 1ony t J rne. It'S 

l'l.tjoJl p<u:t of t ho • legislation. An I say, I lllilll. 

.L' ,, 1 enlly I he point '"'her<'! it Is impacl:lnq 

wh t we as a Board are charged with doing from tile 

lig1na_ statut.e 1n terms o;: revlc'"'lng -he 

l ndivioual dose reconst =u:::t: ionR. So ~ aCJn't know 

if anyuody C!ls has thoughts on that, but ... 

DR. ZIEMER: Any con~ents? 

DR. ANDRADE: My on:y C -~ent lS that '1:1 as 

anxious as you cue t.o see someth.lng ou:: on t.:lae 

SEC. However, llB yo•1 rec.lll. c he hases fo1 r he 

SEC egislation 1s such t:at lt r~a.ly has n thing 

t do h'tth DR's excep:: :'o r the [act that t I 1 

h• l l procl<Jimcd that: DR's cannot be done. So I 

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don't ace the conn.,ctl'lit:y between the DR pr gr m 

•G it is ongo1r.g and -- and our aoil1ty to r v1 w 

t:.hnt DR prorram. 

DR. ZIEMER: Other comments? Roy? 

DR. DEHART: ! think, as nany o~ you know, 

l~gisla·t~~ .s oeing prcposea to go around an t 

eslabl1oh certain ent1t1es as special cohort 

1 01 lation- ~f thls action doesn't tak~ p no 

'J ry goon 

DR. ZIEMER: Jim? 

DR. MELIUS: In response t:o To ny's comment 

iltHI ,tct. tl ally Larry ra i sed the issues PRl I ! Ell. 

d Lnag1 ee , l witr whal you said, Tony. I <ion • t: 

l i t ~' lest .c.1. L'1·.! se:c in the Jegisl<1tion 1 . 

Stlffici nt accuracy nrd feasib1lity. And w I 

uskin~ someone to rev1ew what NIOSH nas don 

w ·hout know1ng wna~ the test will be of 

euff1ci nt accuracy and fe~sibility, our our 

rcvL w r. And I tll-nk - J find-- you know, I've 

said t.his at grea:: :!.ength many times b"'fot 1 

don't see how you can do • start ::.he aose 

Lt.HUJU,l!UUL.UII !JHH.cSS IJl' 90 :;.l·.rcugh 1'1}1 t.h" 

cla ms tl..,re are some clnJ.ms obv1ously you <"an 

dow the- t hil'Hn') sorn"' sn>t nf rl wily nf v lu•tll;j 

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suflicient accula y nd feasibility, but at s m 

point 1 th:tnK you I .t the wall ot you hit 

questionable ar"a where guidance in ct:ac nreil IS 

n d d. Wh n w ask our contractoz or the 

ntractor to review ~cd~v~dual lose 

r construct1ons, at so~e po1nt they're go1ng to 

s n tl1c same 1ssue. 1 me :m 1t ' 0 - I th::.nk t • 

illt:e<rral to the Ieg1slati:m and -- ~no I t hiuk 1t 

b conev v"rY problcmat1c. Now do we defer ln th L 

<: se? 1 mean we don't kn~w how long this issue' 

1n9 •o be out Lh~re. A3 Roy said, th~re•s 

lcqislative issues involve o now and so :o~•h 

IHH' IIJBe o l. 1 he dt!lays. 1\:Jd T I h luk us , you I:JJCJW, 

clt f t ing - sending a letter up just pvint.;.n ~ CJ I JI 

that thF>re h ts been de_ay ani it would be vo>ry 

I• lpful :or th1s Boa1d to :io lts a tivities 1 o 

have that llltOtlatlon. I thlrK 1t'd be ve1y 

ill 1 P--ate ~ i h· now. 

OR. ZIEMER: Than~ ycu. Ot;h••r comments? 

MR. GIBSON: I concut wich Dt. Mel1us' 

mmcnts. I believe tha= the problem we're hav ng 

w ·h getting cxperienc~c health physic1st for 

scm t>t :he nore comp_:.ca t ed oats, Just all o 

L! Jcse 1.ssues neen· to ::.t n ancJ-.Ln-h,u:d and T 

b 11 eve that t:ha third issuP th 1t ties l t. l l 

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together would be •he SEC rule. so you kn w, l 

tl"e no har:r 111 ra1:11r.g our concern to the 

S cretar.y that wu need :.his -- tillS ru_u 

IIOl)lZPd. 

OR. ZIEMER : Thank y u. A~y o~hpr comm nl 

1 4at1ng to that 1ssue? J1~. 

OR. MELIUS : Maybe cr.~ to qet th_s adaress d, 

I w1ll toa~.e a moc:..:.n t::at t:e Ooarcl cornl!lttnlc tt 

with the s"cret1ry out concerns >bout che long 

It layfl in fino~liz{ J t-hp s::-r IIIlA t l iiO hnw Wl! [cui 

tit • i l is irnportclr.:. that l.nin be dnalize~ in 

or •r f"r •;, t c c1u r.y out our funct 1ons. 

OR. ZI EMER: 0~ay. A motlon uas been m11de 

MR. ESPI NOSA: ~econd. 

OR. ZIEMER : · and :;econried. l"n· going l 

~sk Lhu muv• ~ 11d seconder il tl1ey would b· 


will111'J to posl:pone action on th1s ~1olion ti'1 l he 


ofternoon session so that we can go tl1rough rl • 

pr s ntations here. A~d also I' i ik to ask, 

wh n doPs Henry arr_ve? 

OR. MELI US : Henry ! bel1eve arrlv=s late 

ton t;1ht. If you th11.k ch~s '1111 help, Lf you want 

to puc ott :o :h1s afcernoon, that's Einc w1ch me 

01 tomo1row. But l 'd be wlllinl ro try to 

drn~t Mm~ RpP.cl!::.c ~ang1.:age tl. a~ 

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OR. ZIEMER: \·l,•ll, that -­

OR. MELIUS: worK witll o~her p•op! thot 

~1ahr - ~na~ ~!~h~ be helpfu. co 

DR. ZIEMER: tha~ would be the one of 

the 1c aeo r.s fo1 delaying ::.h1s so that: we can aqa e 

on what the lanquage should be and ex ctly how 

proc co on thnt. If ::.~1s is goi~3 to H to -h 

See-r tat·y, I woJld wan: t:::> make sure that: ::.h• 

lnn1 aacte was ca t e l ully cra l ted. 

By consent, we will lol~le ::.his motion. I'm 

say1ng by consent: •ca~s~ he·r~ not liS no one 

seen11. 1 C' be r.~bJeCtlng and we won't ev • 11 vot•~ on 

to~ h li u y , whl-h itself req Jires a voto, hut: ~~ e'll 

nc)l:•• I ~ renov•• it from l: 1e Lable I a let ln th~ 

meeting. e1the1 ~hls afternoon or tomorrow. 

Ar~ there otldr ge~eral quest1ons ~or Xartha? 

(No responst>s) 

Than,; you very much, Mart.ha. Now I'd l1ke 10 

a 1 on P~::.P Tutcic :~om D~partme~t of Labor to 

giv us a status report on the progr m fro their 

per •.:ve 

STATUS AND OUTREACH - DEPARTMENT OF LABOR 

MR. TORCI C: Tl,anK you. ~r's d pl - ~.c to 

b~ !•ere aaa1n and to give you a sratuo update o t 

tl1e 0£:tllrt.r•eut; of I.abor pr• gram -- p<>rt1on of ll1 

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pt ogram And baned on some quencions that the 

Board hau reaucsced, I'll try to also upanc you 

on whet·e we a t e Wlt:h our outreach e1 forts 

Ju t briefly go1~g over che clai~s sc cus, 

the nurrh r ana types of cl~ims as of Jdrluu y 29 

w~·ve 1 ce1vcd OVPr 50,000 claims. Of thaL, 

35,000 are cla1~s t or cancer; oeryl-~~m 

aens1t1v cy, 2,252; 2,700 -- l1ttl bit ov r 2,7 o 

fc:a c ht an i c bery l l ium disease; alrrosc 1, •O J -- 'J/7 

Bllicooior and RHCA, over 5,000; R~rl t hp~ tJ~ m!:' 

for nan covered cond itioqs, we rec~ivea nbout 

:l'i,OOO 0 1 e c l ,Jlms we 1 e l or cond i t l ono 1101 

cover. d by Part B. 

Th oc~tua of the caaoe thnc we hnvc, those 

S tJ , Ort ll cl t i ms, th•ne ' s a l i Lt l e b i t ovet :HI t h.1 1 

represun:.s a l1ttle l:nt ever !8,000 cases. o<~lth 

cases per1ding at NIOSH a llt=le b - m l these 

11 1mb 1 s t 1uctua L c «ad, yuu ~<::;.:. , hey ' l"P not: 10 nq 

ma-ch one-for one wicl wha~. you know, NlOSH 

ve be ntse of time fram o anc th1ngs lik that 

- 13,900. Cases pending a Eina l dPcisiou, that 

means there's a recox:nended dec1s1on ana t:'s 

h~twee~ t l:e stage of a r co~menoed and ftn 1 

d • C1S10n, 1 , 873, Cases t hat we have fi n 

d cis1ons on 1s 26,000 over 26,000. And cas o 

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pending 1ction in our distr~ct off1cc. wl ich 

case developm nt and so Eorcn, 1.131. 

As of the 29th of January our final 

d~~is1ons, we•v issued ~inal decisions to 1pprovp 

benefits in over 11,000 claims - or ye h. 

11,000 clnims and to deny bece~its in about 

15,000. Recommendea dec1sicns, 11,800 recommended 

r1 cisions to approve benefits, 17,551 to deny 

benefits. 1",300 ~ltt!e bi: over that ases 

referred to ti!O~N for d0£2 recon£trucc1on. 

issued ov 1 10,000 payments now and ovc1 $712 

million. And Ollt mPtlica l bene:':J.ts, th<~t..'n 

aluling t •> q ro u p Jll !' Lly J.apidly now, 1bou1 $25 

mllllon l1 M•·dicul benefiLs. 

0111 i niL••• decis1on.;; and what Wf' , a~l 

lnlti<~l decJ.Slou is e1ther a recow:nended cl ci io1 

or n retetrnl to NIOSH, ~t's a-- it's tl~ point 

at ·~·h1ch Deport"'o.::nt of Labor has r.:ade a d civion, 

an initial decision that ~be c_aimant h1s a has 

coveted emp~oymcnt and a covered dJ.sease. Initt 1 

decisionn, recom:nendad decisions in 29,000 ov• r 

29,000 cla1rr.s or 22,500 cases, and so lron1 Lhe 

1 ni t:lal deci s1ons 1 nat we· ve -- [tom 1 l1t: ...,,.~., 

tha ~ w.~ • ve r eel v••d sincE the oo;gimung oi th 

progr:;m, ;obout.: initial decisions hav n 

NANCY rEE & ASSOCIATES 
4!i 

• l issued 1n 97 pPrccnt of all those cases. 

F1nal dec1s1ous, aga 1n, '"'e'te Eu.al dec r s r ons 

111 2~.000 claims 01 20- - a b out 21,000 cases, ond 

th accou rtts tor •bout 54 pPrcen~ of the cas a 

that ""e'vo rec ived since the inception of ch 

progra~ on July 31st, 2001. 

7 'Ihe final a~c1s1or:s. _ooklng at that, r1ght 

8 , w - and t,1& lG u t a:: 1r:g to ehanoe. natura ly 

l - our denl<ds for the f i n.'ll decisions that 

0 Wt 1 V" deniPrl, htlt I j n P • • OVAl <), 00() Of f liol 

1 d , nials at. this po1nt a r e L::H non-covered 

• 

12 Ctllldltions; 2,400 were t ha t rhe employee •~ as uot 

13 covered; 728 that thP survivots w~re not eliq1ble; 

14 101 tha!.. th~ cond ition ..,..._s not telated to 

~ 

,.,, 1oyment. mr! those wou r.i h.• t.hinrrs 1 k 

ind i v i duals t h ; t. may be fi lin<r .1 cu ncf!r c l • • m at a 

7 be t yl l 1 urn ~ nd or, you know, rhac. it • s -- i 1 1.s 

JO cancc1, but cancer ls not cov r~d lor beryll um 

19 v ndors; 2,000 where the ~edical information wa 

20 n suffrc~ent. ana I ~c-nk that's an lrnportan 

very -mpon:ant po1n;. ::t:ere, that _t you !ook t 

22 i t, of t.he 15,000 cases :,•e hear a lot. about. 

h~w. you kn ow, the luck c f m~oical rPcoran. Of 

1 t il so.r.on cas•·s -- so,ooo claims, only 2,0>0 h vr; 

h• "'1 i Pni P1l hPc II IRP. t hR inrliV\d t. lll C:Ot: l d not 

• NANCY LEE & ASSOCIATES