Weldon Spring Workers Face Health Issues
Date Posted: May 9, 2023
Posted In: Discussion, News, Workforce,
From St. Louis/Southern Illinois Labor Tribune: Gary Ferguson was 22 years old when he began working on the Weldon Spring Site Remedial Action Project in St. Charles County in the early 1990s. What he was exposed to there would change his life forever.
On the site of the current Weldon Spring Conservation Area in St. Charles County once stood plants that made TNT and DNT during World War II, and produced uranium during the Cold War.
“I was a laborer, and we did all the hazardous waste cleanup and demo-ed the buildings,” Ferguson said. “We were tearing down these buildings on one side of the fence and on the other side of the fence were the picnic tables where we ate lunch. We had to wear PPE when we were working inside the fence, but on the other side they said we were safe, when they were tearing down these buildings like 25 feet away.”
Now 55 and suffering from debilitating asthma and arthritis, Ferguson believes the materials he was exposed to at Weldon Spring are responsible for his health problems.
Ferguson’s father and brothers also worked at the site. His father died of a rare form of cancer that affected the platelets in his blood. Prior to his fatal illness, he developed severe neuropathy that kept him almost chair bound.
One of his brothers now has neuropathy and cancer. His other brother worked in an office space and doesn’t’ appear to have any health problems.