Aug 7, 2017 3 min read

Former employees of Vitro Manufacturing, a long-closed beryllium-producing factory in Canonsburg, are eligible for free beryllium screening offered by the U.S. Department of Energy to see if they have an early indicator of chronic beryllium disease, formerly known as berylliosis.

Beryllium is a metallic element used in many industries, including nuclear weapons production, that can prove harmful to workers when inhaled as dust or fumes from machining or manufacturing. Chronic beryllium disease can lead to the development of small, inflammatory nodules in the lungs called granulomas that reduce the ability of the lungs to function and cause coughing and shortness of breath.

Workers who have been, or potentially could have been, exposed to beryllium while employed at the Vitro plant, specifically in 1948, should receive the beryllium lymphocyte proliferation test, a diagnostic tool to identify workers who are sensitized to beryllium. This is the population that may be at greater risk of developing chronic beryllium disease.

DOE describes the procedure as blood drawn locally and sent to a certified laboratory, for which DOE will pay.

Former employees interested in participating in the medical screening should contact Oak Ridge (Tenn.) Institute for Science and Education, which is managing this program for DOE, at the toll-free number, 1-866-219-3442.

Any former employee whose test shows abnormal results will be referred for free, additional medical monitoring and possible compensation through the U.S. Department of Labor under the Energy Employees Occupational Illness Compensation Program.

According to Pam Bonee, director of communications and marketing for Oak Ridge Associated Universities, “the Vitro site was under contract to recover uranium from scrap, and scrap containing beryllium was shipped to Vitro from General Electric in only 1948.”

Family members of Vitro employees should not be concerned about secondary exposure from either clothing or vehicles because “measurable effects from exposure usually occur between one and 40 years of exposure. Members of the community should not be at risk,” she responded via email.

Additionally, workers who were employed at the Vitro, Canonsburg, location between 1942 and the plant’s closing in 1960 and during its remediation who developed cancer are eligible to file a claim under the Energy Employees Occupational Illness Compensation program. This program is administered by the Department of Labor. Details about the program are available from the New York Resource Center at https://www.dol.gov/owcp/energy/regs/compliance/ResourceMeetings/maps/resourcecenterNewYork.htm, or by calling 1-800-941-3943.

Workers who participated in remediation at the Vitro, Canonsburg location in 1983, 1984, 1985 or 1996 are eligible for a medical examination through the National Supplemental Screening Program. The medical exam will be available at a clinic near the former worker’s home. More information is available at https://www.orau.org/nssp, or by calling 1-866-812-6703.

Remediation of the fenced-off plant property, which still bears signs warning of radioactivity, was an early federal Environmental Protection Administration “superfund” cleanup site.

Workers at the other Pittsburgh-area plants included in the free health screenings are McDaniel Refractory Co., Beaver Falls, from 1942 to 1949 and Nuclear Material and Equipment Corp., Apollo, 1960 to 1968, and three plants in eastern Pennsylvania.