Idaho Residents Seek Compensation for Nuclear Tests

Dozens of Idaho residents who claim nuclear tests conducted during the 1950s made them sick asked a panel of scientists on Saturday to recommend that the U.S. government compensate them. The group, who call themselves "the downwinders" in reference to the toxic clouds that the wind carried their way from test sites in Nevada, described how radioactive waste coated their farms and towns 50 years ago. They said they believe it caused many of them to get cancer. "My father remembers fallout on the grass like dew. We were exposed to radiation for the national security interests of the United States," said Shari Garmon, 52, who survived thyroid cancer but has contracted breast, bone and liver cancer. The U.S. government tested nuclear bombs in the Nevada desert during the Cold War through a series of 90 above-ground tests from 1951 to 1962. Wind blew radioactive clouds hundreds of miles to the north and east, coating crops and pastures. The downwinders say residents who ate those crops and drank local cow's milk risked bone, thyroid, gall bladder and other cancers. They argue young children were especially vulnerable because they drank more milk and had smaller thyroids. Garmon said her fate was decided on June 5, 1952, when the government conducted one of its nuclear tests. Garmon was less than six months old. According to National Cancer Institute estimates, Garmon received the equivalent of 10,000 chest X-rays, or about as much radiation as a person would naturally receive in 750 years, on that single day.

By Martin Johncox

BOISE, Idaho (Reuters) - Dozens of Idaho residents who claim nuclear tests conducted during the 1950s made them sick asked a panel of scientists on Saturday to recommend that the U.S. government compensate them.

The group, who call themselves "the downwinders" in reference to the toxic clouds that the wind carried their way from test sites in Nevada, described how radioactive waste coated their farms and towns 50 years ago. They said they believe it caused many of them to get cancer.

"My father remembers fallout on the grass like dew. We were exposed to radiation for the national security interests of the United States," said Shari Garmon, 52, who survived thyroid cancer but has contracted breast, bone and liver cancer.

The U.S. government tested nuclear bombs in the Nevada desert during the Cold War through a series of 90 above-ground tests from 1951 to 1962. Wind blew radioactive clouds hundreds of miles to the north and east, coating crops and pastures. The downwinders say residents who ate those crops and drank local cow's milk risked bone, thyroid, gall bladder and other cancers. They argue young children were especially vulnerable because they drank more milk and had smaller thyroids.

Garmon said her fate was decided on June 5, 1952, when the government conducted one of its nuclear tests. Garmon was less than six months old. According to National Cancer Institute (news - web sites) estimates, Garmon received the equivalent of 10,000 chest X-rays, or about as much radiation as a person would naturally receive in 750 years, on that single day.

In 1990, the U.S. Congress passed the Radiation Compensation Exposure Act (RECRA) to compensate cancer victims presumed to be injured by testing from nuclear bombs. That measure was expanded in 2000. Now, people in 21 counties in Utah, Nevada and Arizona who have contracted any of 19 cancers can receive $50,000 if they prove they lived in affected areas at the time of the testing.

Residents of Idaho, however, were not covered by the law. The National Academy of Sciences (news - web sites) is now reviewing their claims and preparing a recommendation to Congress on whether to expand the law further to include Idaho.

"Our government knew about the harmful effects and planned to inflict this on us without our consent," said Jeannie Purkhart, who said many of her family members have had cancer and thyroid problems. "At age 17, surgeons removed my stomach, spleen and pancreas, which were ensnared in a massive tumor. I undergo surgery every four years to remove the advancing cancer."

Along with testimony from the downwinders, the National Academy of Sciences will weigh scientific studies and historical records to make a recommendation to Congress by June.

Members of Idaho's congressional delegation, who have been criticized for being slow to act and take up the cause of the downwinders, also attended the meeting.

Some critics claim the scientific studies linking the nuclear testing to cancer in many Idaho residents are inconclusive and suggest other people who were exposed to far higher doses of radiation never developed cancer.

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