The Health Debt to America’s Missileers and Missile Maintainers

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Part of the "Fuel, Foul Air, and Fallout: The Health Tolls of Energy and Defense in the United States" webinar series

With support from the Pulitzer Center, Military.com worked with veterans and scientists to investigate health risks among America’s nuclear missile workers, which hadn’t been studied since the early 2000s. What they found was troubling.

PCBs, carcinogenic chemicals banned in 1979, still insulate many of the electronics in U.S. missile silos in California, Colorado, Kansas, Montana, and North Dakota. They are one of many possible chemistries in coolants, batteries, and other electronics linked to strikingly high rates of blood cancers and other conditions among missileers and missile maintainers. Many affected Air Force members and their families are unable to access care and financial compensation because they cannot prove that their illness is related to their service.

What does the path forward look like for affected Air Force members? Is the Air Force making good on its promises to investigate and reduce carcinogen exposure in its nuclear missile facilities? 

Join Bill Burich, director of the Torchlight Initiative, and Military.com reporter Thomas Novelly for a discussion moderated by Pulitzer Center Senior Editor Susan Ferriss. Registration is required.

Panelists:

• Thomas Novelly is a reporter for Military.com, focusing on coverage of the Air Force and Space Force. He previously covered veterans, military bases, and federal politics in South Carolina for The Post and Courier, where he was part of the reporting team for Rising Waters, a project that examined climate-driven flooding and was a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize. 
• Bill Burich is the director and a volunteer at the Torchlight Initiative, a nongovernment organization composed of current and former Air Force ICBM community members and their families.