A second group of 40 former and current employees at the Dimona nuclear facility who contracted cancer are to file claims for damages against the state, according to attorney Reuven Laster, who represented the initial group of 39 former workers who sued the state in 1996. Laster said his office represents some 100 former and current employees at the facility, all of whom have cancer.
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Laster on Thursday responded publicly for the first time to a report by a team of medical experts that recently filed its findings regarding the causal link between the illness of the 39 employees and their work at the facility. The team, headed by Prof. Eran Dolev, found unequivocally that in 33 of the cases there was no link between the disease and the radiation levels they were exposed to during the course of their work. The panel found the possibility, although no conclusive proof, of a causal relationship between the disease and the work place in six cases. In four of these cases, the plaintiffs are the families of former employees who have died of cancer.
Given the private, sensitive nature of the cases and the fear of revealing secrets about the Dimona facility, the Dolev Committee's report is confidential and will not be published. Next month, committee members will be questioned by lawyers representing both sides at the Jerusalem District Court in front of presiding judge Boaz Okun.
"In contrast to members of the Naval Commando unit who held diving exercises in the Kishon River, where a committee of experts ruled that there was no link between the river pollution and the diseases they contracted, the Dolev Committee has recognized a link in six cases," Laster said. "That represents 20 percent of the plaintiffs."
Laster added that he has many reservations regarding the report, and that, as far as he is concerned, it does not represent a final document. "The doctors will have to give answers about their report in court," he said. "In the meantime, they have recognized six of the cases - and that is just the start."
However, experts with experience in cross-examining physicians in court warn that there is very little chance that the members of the Dolev Committee will change their opinion on the other 33 cases as a result of court questioning. While it is theoretically possible, they argue, it is unprecedented for a specialist to change his professional opinion
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