The NSSP Screening Facility proposed by DOE for BNL was denied approval by Stony Brook years ago. No one will say why.
The Department of Energy (DOE) is responsible for the National Supplemental Screening Program (NSSP) which provides worker population medical screenings for those men and women exposed to environmental hazards in the course of their employment for the DOE or their contractors and subcontractors.
Dr. Steven Markowitz works at Queens College running the Center for the Biology of Natural Systems and manages a group of these sites across the country. According to him his sites all follow the national protocol for testing and people can use the results for any purpose including applying for benefits under the Energy Employees Occupational Illness Compensation Program Act (EEOICPA).
This act provides for free medical screenings and financial compensation for medical maladies linked to exposure and for deaths related to employee exposure on the job site to hazardous chemicals, radiation, Beryllium and other toxins.
Several years ago the DOE submitted an application to Stony Brook University, which manages Brookhaven National Laboratories (BNL) to set up a screening center at Queens College to be funded entirely by the DOE. This would have allowed any and all employees of BNL to go to Queens College and get free hands on examinations and testing including the BLpt test for Beryllium exposure, x-rays, medical and occupational examinations, breathing tests, general blood chemistry, urinalysis and other tests, according to Dr. Markowitz.
Dr. Markowitz runs similar programs in Paducah, Kentucky, Portsmouth, Oregon and seven other sites and all have been approved using the exact same protocols as the Queens College application submitted a few years ago to Stony Brook.
But the Institutional Review Board at Stony Brook said no, and denied the application. In January 2010 the DOE formed a new IRB of 10-20 people including scientists and workers' reps etc. and Dr. Markowitz has resubmitted the original application Stony Brook declined to approve- to them. Dr. Markowitz says he expects it to pass easily and hopes to have the program under way in a few weeks.
Last week Freelance Investigations called Stony Brook and spoke to Lauren Sheprow in the office of media relations. I asked her why Stony Brook denied the application several years ago. She said she did not know what the NSSP Program was and would I please put my questions in writing and send them in an E-Mail. This was the E-Mail that was sent:
Lauren:
First a little background since you seemed to have little or no information regarding this issue when I first called. I hope this helps to narrow things down for you. I have asked Dr. Markowitz for the numbers you requested, but just got his machine and am still waiting for his call back. In the meantime, maybe this will help.
I have been told that a few years ago the DOE put in an application to the Stony Brook IRB for a DOE fully funded NSSP Screening Facility for BNL workers to be set up on site at Queens College for the purpose of testing for medical problems experienced by the men and women who were exposed to Beryllium, Radiation, and other chemical toxins while working at BNL which is a DOE Facility. DOE workers, their contractors or subcontractors are covered under the EEOICPA and Beryllium and Radiation exposure are handled specifically by NIOSH. When you go to the NSSP website it says that workers from various DOE contaminated sites are handled at other facilities across the country. All are handled through Queens College by Dr. Steven Markowitz of the Center for the Biology of Natural Systems. Dr. Markowitz told me that a few years ago that he submitted the application for a DOE funded NSSP (National Supplemental Screening Program) test site at Queens College for BNL workers and submitted the application to Stony Brook and their Institutional Review Board (IRB). This application contained the exact same protocols that were and continue to be in effect in seven other NSSP testing sites across the country. These protocols include but are not limited to:
(All Free) Hands on medical and occupational hazards examinations
X-Rays
Breathing Test
Breathing Test
BLpt tests for Beryllium exposure
General blood chemistry and urinalysis tests
General blood chemistry and urinalysis tests
According to Dr. Markowitz, Stony Brook IRB denied the DOE application and the site was never opened.
Dr. Markowitz declined to comment on why the application was denied by Stony Brook except to say he thought the IRB's principal issue back then was "confidential and personally identifiable information".
In January 2010 the DOE formed a new IRB of 10-20 people including scientists and workers' reps etc. and Dr. Markowitz has resubmitted the original application Stony Brook declined to approve- to them. Dr. Markowitz says he expects it to pass easily and hopes to have the program under way in a few weeks.
QUESTIONS:
Who specifically was on the committee that denied the original application...when did this actually occur (if at all) and why was the application denied...(if it was)?
Does Stony Brook have any comment about the DOE's need to make an end run around their IRB denial to develop a new DOE IRB to establish the center to get help for the BNL workers? Will they cooperate in the new project if and when it is up and running at Queens College? Will they encourage BNL current and former employees to go to the center for free screenings? If so, if and how will they handle notification to current and former BNL workers?
Where do you refer exposed BNL workers to now for screenings?
Are any of the members of the IRB in contact with Dr. Markowitz directly regarding this issue? If so who, when and what was the upshot of the interaction?
If they did deny approval of the application for the free screening site, do the members of the Stony Brook IRB have anything to say to the sick workers, who missed getting screened on time or the families of those gone already from diseases related to their exposure as to why Stony Brook said no to the Queens College NSSP Medical Testing Center application years ago?
Thank you for your very valuable time...
Colleen CallanFreelance Investigative Reporter and Producer
The REPLY:
In response to your inquiry, the IRB's role is to review proposals involving human subjects according to criteria specified by federal regulation. If the criteria are not met, the proposal may not be approved.
I hope this helps.
Best,
Lauren
Lauren M. Sheprow
Office of Media Relations
Stony Brook University
631-632-4965 / 631-444-7880
To which I replied:Lauren:
I already knew what the IRB's role is. That was never one of my questions. You are not answering any of the questions I did ask and you are answering ones I didn't ask. Interesting.
I wanted to know specifically, why this Queen's College proposal did not meet Stony Brooks' criteria.
Since according to Dr. Markowitz, it was exactly the same as seven other Federally approved sites...what specifically made Stony Brook say no?
That's really what I asked and still need to know and you are not willing to answer.
You are obviously ducking all the questions from the E-Mail you insisted I send you.
I will give you one more opportunity to answer them. If not...they will be put into the article exactly as written and your exact responses along with them. 3 PM Deadline.
Colleen
Dr. Markowitz originally said in a recent interview, to the best of his recollection Stony Brook did not approve the initial proposal based on “confidential and personally identifiable information”.
At the time, when asked to explain the statement he could not say what it meant.
When pressed today regarding the real reason Stony Brook said "No"- Dr. Markowitz admitted he knew the real reason, had it in his files, but would not reveal the answer, despite agreeing several weeks ago to look for the information and to release it when he found it.
Why are both Stony Brook and Dr. Markowitz not willing to answer the simple question of why Stony Brook denied the application a few years ago? What’s the big secret here?
Why the change of heart by Dr. Markowitz regarding the answer? No one will even give the exact year of the denial, even though they obviously know the answer to at least that question. Why?
I called Lauren Sheprow again and asked her if she intended to actually answer any of the written questions she requested and she said the E-Mail answer was the "on the record response" and the only answers she and Stony Brook intended to give. I asked her to at least tell me where Stony Brook currently refers BNL workers to now for screenings? She declined to answer.
Dr. Markowitz said today he hopes to have the Queens College program up and running in the very near future.
To Contact Dr. Markowitz regarding the program call:
718 670-4184
To Contact Lauren Sheprow to see if she will give you an answer to why Stony Brook said No to the NSSP Screening Program for BNL workers at Queens College several years ago call:
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