By Kevin Lavery, KWMU
St. Louis, MO – A federal review board opens a hearing today (Monday) in Iowa to determine if more than 250 former St. Louis Mallinckrodt workers will receive compensation for their illnesses.
Workers employed at the former Mallinckrodt site in downtown St. Louis from 1949 to 1957 were exposed to high-level radiation, and many developed cancer.
The group is trying to prove they're eligible for a $150,000 payment.
In an interview with KWMU in February, former employee Mark Bruening said his fight is about something more than a check: "The money part of it - OK, it's going to be nice - but getting them to admit that they were at fault would mean an awful lot to me and a lot of other people."
The hearing takes place in Cedar Rapids, Iowa. It's for mostly workers who were at Mallinckrodt in the 1950s. The government has already approved speedy payments for more than 100 workers who were at the plan during the 40s.
The group's lead petitioner, Denise Brock, took up the cause after her father died of cancer in 1978: "They tell you God gives you a purpose; this must be mine because I have no intention of quitting this until they get paid - and I mean every one of them."