I was almost immediately removed to another part of the plant that did not have a historical record of having any beryllium in it. But there are some people still working at the plant in beryllium areas who have been diagnosed as beryllium sensitive, which has a strong probability of developing into beryllium disease. In the case of the beryllium issues, beryllium is such a specific use material that there is not much problem in linking that. In fact, one of the former Department of Energy secretaries has made a statement saying that where a person develops beryllium disease and has worked in a DOE facility that used beryllium, that the work relationship should not be questioned. However, with some of the other toxins, people have had a terrible time making the work link, even though the symptoms should have been obvious that they were work related.
Beryllium is one of the few that are provable right off the bat.
This is a very big issue right now. I believe that in the cases where it is warranted, that possible civil fines or even criminal prosecution should be instituted if it's necessary. I think the main issue right now is taking care of the people that received the exposures. We, as workers, made a huge contribution to winning the cold war and we feel that we don't want a windfall profit from this, we simply want our lives to be as near normal as it would have been, had we not developed these illnesses. We would consider adequate compensation as being having our medical bills paid in full and having wages that would be comparable to what we would have been making, had we not developed the disease.