Air Force Expands Cancer Study Among Nuclear Missile Workers

Unsafe levels of carcinogenic PCBs found at four locations in underground launch control capsules, prompting deeper examination.

The Air Force is expanding its study of whether service members who worked with nuclear missiles have had unusually high rates of cancer after a preliminary review determined that a deeper examination is needed.
Medical teams conducted thousands of tests of the air, water, soil and surface areas inside and around each of its three nuclear missile bases; Malmstrom Air Force Base in Montana, Minot Air Force Base in North Dakota and F.E. Warren Air Force Base in Wyoming.
Four locations in the underground launch control capsules where the missileers worked had unsafe levels of PCBs, a likely carcinogen identified by the Environmental Protection Agency.
The Air Force is expanding its review of medical records to try to account for as many service members as possible, including those who worked with military nuclear missiles going back to 1976.
The issue received significantly more attention this year as scores of current or former officers or their surviving family members joined forces and went public with self-reported data of their cancers.