The federal government paid a total of $1.4 million to compensate or care for victims of beryllium disease associated with a Tucson manufacturing site.
The U.S. Department of Labor announced this week that it has paid more than $100 million in benefits to 1,583 Arizona residents under the Energy Employees Occupational Illness Compensation Program Act.
Congress created the program in 2000 in the wake of the Cold War for people who became ill after working in the atomic-weapons and uranium-mining industries. The program included workers who handled the metal beryllium for Brush Wellman Inc., an Ohio-based company that mined beryllium and has a Tucson subsidiary.
Beryllium workers or their survivors who were found eligible could receive a lump sum payment of $150,000. The government would also pay some medical expenses.
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The federal act relieved Brush of potential liability in connection with workers who said the company downplayed risks and didn't do enough to protect them. Brush officials said the safety of workers was and remains their highest priority.
In Tucson, 17 workers or survivors representing 16 cases of the disease filed claims connected to their employment by Brush Wellman.
The department found 15 of the 16 cases qualified for benefits.
Nine of the 15 resulted in lump-sum payments totaling $1.35 million. The government also paid $77,785 in medical bills.
"What these people received certainly wasn't enough to compensate them for what they've been through," Colorado attorney James Heckbert said.
"Beryllium disease is a horrible disease to go through. It's like suffocating," he said. Heckbert sued Brush Wellman Inc. in the 1990s on behalf of sick workers and reached undisclosed settlements.
Brush Wellman's subsidiary here is Brush Ceramic Products, which employs nearly 100 people at 6100 S. Tucson Blvd. Its local officials referred questions to a spokesman in Ohio who could not be reached Wednesday afternoon.
In 2001, Brush officials said they had confirmed 28 cases of berylliosis disease among past and current workers. Another 12 had tested positive for sensitivity to beryllium.
Although the metal is not hazardous in finished products, inhaling beryllium dust or mist during manufacturing can lead to the serious, sometimes fatal lung disease in sensitive individuals.
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For information about potential eligibility under the law, Arizona residents may call the U.S. Department of Energy at 866-697-0841.