Capitol Employees to be Tested for Asbestos Exposure

November 27, 2006 - After much disagreement, the Architect of the Capitol (the office responsible for the upkeep of the U.S. Capitol Building) has agreed to foot the bill for the testing of ten employees who claim they were consistently exposed to damaged asbestos and asbestos fibers in the tunnels underneath the building.

UPI reports that, at first, the Architect of the Capitol denied a request by the tunnel employees to pay for travel to Detroit to obtain testing at the National Center for Vermiculite and Asbestos-Related Cancer.  Instead, it has been recommended that the ten long-time Capitol employees be tested by two pulmonary specialists in the Washington D.C. area and evaluated for signs of an asbestos-related disease. The employees will be authorized to take administrative leave and, in addition, will be reimbursed for any travel expenses, states the newspaper report.

The decision came after the men wrote a letter to Senator Dick Dubin, D-Ill., who has been supporting the employees in their quest for medical testing and has rallied for the clean-up of the tunnels underneath the Capitol, which house pipes that supply water and power to the complex.