Document X7rdDMEro5k0vQOrQgy8qLd3w

DEPARTMENT 01* h t k H & H U M A N SERVICES L .iC i. Public Health Service Centers for Disease Control National Institute for Occupational Safety & Health Robert A, Taft Laboratories 4676 Columbia Parkway Cincinnati OH 45226-1998 October 4, 1989 HETA 89-021 The Honorable Sherwood Guernsey Massachusetts House of Representatives 152 North Stre e t - Room 330 P it t s f ie ld , Massachusetts 01201 Dear Representative Guernsey: On September 25, I traveled to Baltim ore, Maryland to observe a meeting concerning the case-control m orta lity study of workers at the Gen Electric f a c i l i t y in P it t s f ie ld , Massachusetts. The meeting Involved member- - of the study advisory panel, General E le c t r ic management, Dr. David Wegman, and Dr. Sander Greenland. During the meeting, Dr. Greenland discussed the.latency and epoch a n a ly sis recently completed. The form of the fin a l report and the study recommendations were then discussed. A t th is time, a ll of the the analyses to be included 1n the fin a l report have been completed, a summary of the a n a ly tic r e s u lt s 1s being w ritten by Dr. Greenland, and the p rin c ip a l in v e stig a to rs are reviewing the fin a l d ra ft o f the executive summary. Dr. Wegman plans to deliver the fin a l report to General E le c t ric by the end of October. The document w ill then be d istrib u te d to the advisory panel members fo r th e ir fin a l review and comment. General E le c t r ic management w ill hold a f in a l meeting with the a dvisory panel a few weeks afterwards in Baltimore, Maryland [tentative dates in November were d iscussed). An exact date fo r the p ublic release of the rep o rt has not been set, but should occur sometime in December or early January. Dr. Wegman and Mr. Hamilton of General E le c t r ic expressed an In te re st In having a NI05H representative present when the study r e s u lt s are released to the public. A fte r considerable d isc u ssio n with my program sup ervisors, i t was decided that t h is would be inappropriate. Dr* Wegman1s study has been conducted under contract with General E le c tric . <It has not included employee representation, nor w ill labor have an opportunity to review tne r e s u lt s pTOT .to p ublic re le a se. My involvement has been nm iteo to op se rvin g'tn e progress made over tne past year and keeping you, and your constitu e nts, advised, Our presence a t a public meeting would be m isinterpreted as our having played some .larger ro le " I f you have any questions please c a ll me at (513) 841-4386. Cinrai.&'lu unnt.e I Thomas Sin k s, Ph.D. Supervisory Epidem iologist Medical Section Hazard Evaluations and Technical Assistance Branch D iv isio n of Surveillan ce, Hazard EvalfmMnn.e, *nd F i e l d Studies