Society News Archive

9 March 2000

The United States General Accounting Office (GAO) recently released its report "Veterans' Benefits: Independent Review Could Improve Credibility of Radiation Exposure Estimates." The GAO had input from the Health Physics Society (HPS) for this report through meetings in April 1999 with Past President William A. Mills and 1999 President Keith H. Dinger.

The report can be found on the GAO website. It is under Reports and can be found by the above title or its number, HEHS-00-32. It is 17 pages long, has four appendices (5 pp.), and was issued January 28, 2000.

In a letter transmitting the report, The Honorable Arlen Specter acknowledged that "Some experts we interviewed, including some Health Physics Society representatives, also support the use of dose reconstruction for claims decisions." This statement referred to the use by the Veterans Administration of dose reconstruction to decide compensation claims for certain types of cancers.