After a period of inactivity, a program that screens Ohio workers for work-related lung cancer is back on track. A cancer screening program for former workers at a plant in Piketon, Ohio was officially rebooted last week. The Early Lung Cancer Detection Program for Portsmouth Gaseous Diffusion Plant Workers was opened in a grand ceremony. The program is now known as the “Sam Ray Worker Health Protection Program” and is named after a longtime Piketon worker and union member who died of cancer.

The program aims to provide free CT scans to former and present employees of the Piketon nuclear plant. The CT scans can detect lung cancer at a very early stage. By catching the cancer early, the employees have a better chance at successfully battling the cancer and improved survival rates. The CT scans are conducted by using a portable machine in a mobile unit that travels to several area testing sites.

Former nuclear plant workers were often exposed to carcinogenic materials like radioactive waste, beryllium, and asbestos. Asbestos exposure is conclusively linked to the development of mesothelioma, a rare form of cancer that can manifest in the lungs and other organs.

Mesothelioma affects less than 3,000 Americans each year. While it is not uncommon for the disease to lie dormant for up to fifty years, the disease can be very aggressive once the cancer has established a foothold. Sadly, some mesothelioma patients may not live for more than a few months after being diagnosed.

The first CT scanning lung cancer detection program in Piketon originally ran from 2000 through 2006.

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