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Weapons Plant Workers Fight For Medical Benefits

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By STEVE ANDREWS | News Channel 8

Published: January 15, 2008

The Largo plant produced nuclear weapons during the cold war, and the government promised to pay the medical bills of workers who were sick from radiation and chemical exposure.

But the government has rejected over 600 applications for benefits.

Jim Wood worked at the former General Electric plant from 1982 to 1997. The Largo plant manufactured triggers for nuclear weapons. Employees were sworn to secrecy.

"He'd always say that he was not allowed to say what he was doing," Wood's wife, Betsy Wood, said.

Congress passed a law to pay for their medical benefits after the government determined many workers in nuclear plants became ill from exposure.

In 2005, Jim Wood learned he had a rare form of brain cancer. The Woods applied. The Department of Labor rejected the application, stating it didn't prove his job caused cancer.

Jim Wood lived to see his daughter marry. He died in 2006. He was 54. After his death, Betsy Wood learned her husband cleaned up a radioactive tritium spill while working at the plant.

She said his doctor wrote that kind of radiation could be the cause of his cancer. She asked the government to reconsider its decision. Last month, the government said no.

"I'm gonna fight them," Betsy Wood said.

To date Pinellas plant workers filed 1,367 applications for benefits. So far, the government has approved 84 and has rejected 600.

Plant workers organized a meeting for Thursday at the Largo Public Library from 3 to 5 p.m. and 6 to 8 p.m. The meeting is open to former and current employees of the Pinellas plant.

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