U.S. panel: Open door to radiation claims

[struggle4progress]

4/28/2005, 9:38 p.m. CT
By TRAVIS REED
The Associated Press

SALT LAKE CITY (AP) — A panel of experts is recommending the government open the door to hearing cancer claims from people in all states who think they were affected by nuclear fallout from 1950s weapons tests in Nevada.

However, those cancer victims would have to prove it was the nuclear fallout that caused their illness, and making that case would be very difficult.

The recommendation was released Thursday by a panel under the National Research Council, the chief operating arm of the National Academy of Sciences. The panel's finding is a nod to scientific data that wasn't available in 1990 when the government initially apologized to cancer victims with a law that set up a compensation fund. <snip>

The data suggest people from as far away as the East Coast could have been exposed to radiation carried from the Nevada test sites by wind and weather patterns. Previously, only people who worked with uranium and residents of certain counties in the region were eligible for the $50,000 to $100,000 lump-sum payments. <snip>

http://www.nola.com/newsflash/topstories/index.ssf?/base/politics-2/1114741715240110.xml&storylist=topstories

[proud2BlibKansan]

1. Um

How many of these victims are still alive?

[struggle4progress]

2. US ended atmospheric nuclear testing in the early 60s: there was ..

really significant public concern about increasing Sr-90 in milk etc.

Potentially anyone alive then could be among the victims. Of course, its reasonable to expect that the more heavily exposed populations have experienced elevated mortality and morbidity.

The problem is that cancers arising from radiation exposure result after cells have accumulated multiple mutations: some mutations may be radiation-induced, but perhaps not all are, and substantial time can elapse for the necessary mutations to accumulate.

The US hasn't keep good records on exposures of the population to carcinogens, including radiation, so most potential victims would have an extremely difficult time in court demonstrating a link between their illnesses and the US tests.