Also covered are employees exposed to radiation while working at gaseous diffusion plants, mainly in Tennessee and Kentucky. The bill was written largely by professional staff members working on behalf of the House and Senate armed services committees, the House Republican leadership and the House Judiciary Committee. Officials from the Energy Department and Defense Department had input, as did representatives from organized labor, trial lawyers and affected industries. Nevada lawmakers do not sit on the relevant committees and were involved in the negotiations only indirectly. They learned of the change but were unable to do anything about it.
Some doctors say that standard is too conservative to help people injured on their jobs.
As the bill was being negotiated, Pepper said he was asked his opinion of the silicosis section. Another doctor who weighed in was Christine Oliver, an occupational lung disease specialist at Massachusetts General Hospital and an assistant clinical professor of medicine at Harvard Medical School. But, Pepper pointed out, many are elderly and suffering from other ailments. Some will never get compensated because of the age of the group and given it's not the healthiest group. Pepper said CAT scans are not widely used to diagnose silicosis, and their use has been largely limited to research applications.