KANSAS CITY, Mo. -
Sick workers at an office building that abuts a historic Kansas City weapons plant fear toxins have seeped from the plant and sickened or caused the death of dozens of their colleagues.
The neighboring workers with the unexplained illnesses are separated by a concrete block wall from the east wing of the Bannister Federal Complex, 1500 E. Bannister Road, where the government has made non-nuclear parts of nuclear weapons since 1949.
The U.S. Dept. of Labor says worker claims link toxic substances to hundreds of illnesses suffered by employees who have worked in the east wing of the building.
A government program has been established to care for and compensate affected workers on the east wing.
However, an NBC Action News investigation revealed that office workers on the other side of the five-million square foot complex are suffering illnesses they say are similar, some fatal, yet there is no assistance for them.
Ex-employee Tracks Worker Illnesses
Barbara Rice says she worked in the west side of the complex and she has suffered several debilitating medical conditions, including hyperthyroidism. Rice says when her husband, who also worked on the west side of the Complex, was diagnosed with a condition that can be caused by toxins, she began tracking the illnesses of her co-workers and others working on the west side.
"I have a list of over 180 fellow co-workers, type of cancer, whether they are undergoing treatment, survivor, or have died," said Rice, a former employee of the Defense Finance and Accounting Service (DFAS).
"Unfortunately, another friend died this week," said Rice.
At any one time, DFAS housed about 800 employees including Rice and her husband.
The memorial service for Rice's west wing colleague, Sam Sellers, who retired from the DFAS in 2007, was Saturday in Lee's Summit.
Co-workers fear that Sellers is one of the more than 60 deceased former employees in the west wing of the facility that may be linked to an unknown toxin.
