Unusually High # Of ALS Cases Near Kennedy Space Center
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Study Finds Unusually High Number Of ALS Cases Near KSC
Posted: 9:15 am EDT April 24, 2009Updated: 1:56 pm EDT April 24, 2009
BREVARD COUNTY, Fla. -- A deadly disease could be threatening residents living around the Kennedy Space Center. Researchers have found an alarming number of ALS cases, also known as Lou Gehrig's disease, in neighborhoods near the space center.
Eyewitness News shows us why some former NASA workers fear they were exposed to something that may now be killing them.
Ken Patterson used to work for a NASA contractor as a safety engineer.
"Working at the Space Center was a dream of mine since I was a little boy," said Patterson with the assistance of a computerized voice program.
He had to quit his job because he was losing control of his hands.
"People at work thought I had been drinking," said Patterson. One year later, doctors diagnosed him with ALS, the debilitating and usually fatal disease.
Now Patterson is practically paralyzed, and he is worried that Kennedy Space Center made him sick. "I am tired of hearing about friends and co-workers at KSC being diagnosed with this disease," said Patterson.
Patterson is one of 24 known cases of ALS within a 25 mile radius of the Kennedy Space Center. According to the ALS association, that rate is about 40 percent higher than the national average.
"We know people that have never served or work there that live in this area with ALS," said Kamden Kuhn, ALS Association.
Researchers are alarmed. "They are intrigued. They know there should not be this many people within this area," said Kuhn.
"You just don't go to sleep and die. You just tragically die, piece by piece," said Trudy Buchine, widow.
Eyewitness News spoke with three Brevard county widows who all lost their husbands to ALS over the last 14 months.
"He was sent up to the cape to work a lot," said Debbie Martinez.
"He was exposed to chemicals his whole life," said Ruth Anderson.
"They both got sick. Both worked together. Both worked at the same sights," added Anderson.
All of their husbands worked around the launch pads. "There's got to be something more than a coincidence," said one widow.
A spokesperson for the Kennedy Space Center says NASA takes precautions around all toxic substances, and since there is no known cause of the disease, NASA cannot say something at the Space Center is to blame.
"To me, personally, it seems a little suspicious," said Buchine.
The victims of ALS hope a new national registry approved by congress, but not yet funded, will help them get a more accurate count of how many people around the KSC are fighting the disease and how many have already died from it.
"Unless we start getting this information together, we are never going to find a cure and that's what it's all about," said Patterson's wife.
ALS usually strikes people between the ages of 40 and 70-years-old. Scientists have not yet nailed down the risk factors. However, two months ago, the Veterans Administration acknowledged military personnel also had a higher risk of contracting ALS.
I didn't exactly know where to put this, but seeing as it is classified as a "study", seems the Research section is appropriate.
Interesting...