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Bush vetoes funds for IBM cancer study

Hinchey still hopeful $3.2M will be approved in future bill

By Tom Wilber
Press & Sun-Bulletin

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President Bush vetoed a spending bill this week that would have funded a $3.2 million cancer-rate study of IBM workers in Endicott.

The measure, championed by U.S. Rep. Maurice Hinchey, D-Hurley, included language directing the National Institute of Occupational Safety and Health to conduct the IBM study using funds in this year’s budget. It was part of a $150.7 billion Labor Health and Education appropriation bill vetoed on Monday.

Congressional proponents of the bill will have to go back to the drawing board after failing to muster enough votes for an override.

Hinchey, a member of the Appropriations Committee, said the IBM study will remain a priority and any new spending measure should contain a similar clause ensuring its funding.

“We feel pretty comfortable this will be OK,” Hinchey spokesman Jeff Lieberman said Friday.

NIOSH works on a $250 million budget to conduct studies that help researchers learn more about occupational hazards in the interest of preventing them.

Lieberman said it “remains to be seen” where and how much the spending plan will be trimmed, adding that it is possible NIOSH could lose funding along with other agencies.

The IBM-Endicott study would determine whether employees suffer from a disproportionately high cancer rate. It would be based on 28,000 personnel files dating to the early 1960s that document the IBM work force at the sprawling Endicott facility, now owned by Huron Real Estate Associates. They would be cross-referenced with cancer and death records kept by state and federal government agencies so researchers will be able to tell if a person who worked for the company for a given period developed cancer any time after that.

The study also would tap IBM’s industrial hygiene records to track what chemicals were used, and where and when they were used, in an attempt to characterize likely exposure scenarios for workers in various departments.

Proponents have said the study would be a significant contribution to worldwide occupational safety, including in countries that use chemicals and processes being phased out in this country.