My father survived foreign enemies to be finally defeated by the very people who he would have called his family, the Air Force. The ALS Association has identified 39 current or former Kelly workers with the disease. Some have died. Normally, only one to two new ALS cases per 100,000 population occur each year in the United States. The 39 Kelly cases represent an extraordinarily high number of people with the relatively rare disease, the local association believes.
Several experts say their concern is warranted.
A vast plume of industrial solvents and jet fuel running beneath Kelly and thousands of surrounding homes has raised suspicions of a link between the base and the 39 cases. The Air Force Base Conversion Agency is overseeing the cleanup of the polluted shallow aquifer. In the ZIP codes surrounding Kelly , the federal Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry has found significantly higher than expected rates of leukemia, birth defects, low birth-weight babies and cancers of liver, lungs and kidneys. The registry is set to release two final parts of its study early this year. Epidemiologists at Brooks AFB are studying information gathered by the local ALS Association about the 39 cases, and they plan to seek additional details from each person or their survivors.