Subject: Unreleased Federal Study on Radioactive Fallout in US
02/28/2002
Fallout likely caused 15,000 deaths
By Peter Eisler, USA TODAY
WASHINGTON - Radioactive fallout from Cold War nuclear weapons tests across
the globe probably caused at least 15,000 cancer deaths in U.S. residents
born after 1951, according to data from an unreleased federal study. The
study, coupled with findings from previous government investigations,
suggests that 20,000 non-fatal cancers - and possibly many more - also can
be tied to fallout from aboveground weapons tests.
The study shows that far more fallout than previously known reached the USA
from nuclear tests in the former Soviet Union and on several Pacific islands
used for U.S. and British exercises. It also finds that fallout from scores
of U.S. trials at the Nevada Test Site spread substantial amounts of
radioactivity across broad swaths of the country. When fallout from all
tests, domestic and foreign, is taken together, no U.S. resident born after
1951 escaped exposure, the study says.
The study is the government's first effort to assess the nationwide effects
of all forms of radiation from the hundreds of aboveground nuclear blasts
detonated worldwide before such testing was banned in 1963. The cancer
estimates add a new human toll to the Cold War and raise profound public
policy questions, including whether the government should do cancer
screenings in high-fallout areas.
USA TODAY obtained portions of the study, which was supposed to be finished
more than a year ago.
"There should be no more waiting," says Sen. Tom Harkin, D-Iowa, who pushed
the Department of Health and Human Services to conduct the study in 1998.
"People are still waiting for real communication on their exposure risks and
steps they can take."
The study's estimates of radiation dispersal are based on complex computer
analyses of weather patterns, population trends and other data that can help
gauge public exposure to fallout from aboveground nuclear tests.
The cancer figures are a general nationwide estimate - there is no way to
link specific cases to fallout. The study does not assess cancer risks in
other countries.
The data show that global fallout blanketed much of the USA, with heavy
pockets in Iowa, Tennessee, California, Oregon, Washington and Idaho.
Fallout from the Nevada tests settled more in the mountain and Midwest
states, including Utah, Idaho, Colorado, Kansas, Nebraska, Iowa and
Missouri.
The study measures exposure to an array of fallout elements based on county
of residence, birth date and factors such as consumption of foods that
absorb fallout.
It concludes that about 22,000 cancers, half of them fatal, probably
occurred from external exposure to radioactive fallout. Those could include
everything from melanoma to breast cancer.
The study attributes thousands of additional cancers to internal radiation
exposure, such as inhalation or eating tainted food. Those cancers include
at least 550 fatal leukemias and about 2,500 thyroid cancer deaths.
Nuclear weapons powers "owe the world a real accounting of what they did to
its health," says Arjun Makhijani of the Institute for Energy and
Environmental Research. "The U.S. has been the only honest country so far."
Fallout likely caused 15,000 deaths
By Peter Eisler, USA TODAY
WASHINGTON - Radioactive fallout from Cold War nuclear weapons tests across
the globe probably caused at least 15,000 cancer deaths in U.S. residents
born after 1951, according to data from an unreleased federal study. The
study, coupled with findings from previous government investigations,
suggests that 20,000 non-fatal cancers - and possibly many more - also can
be tied to fallout from aboveground weapons tests.
The study shows that far more fallout than previously known reached the USA
from nuclear tests in the former Soviet Union and on several Pacific islands
used for U.S. and British exercises. It also finds that fallout from scores
of U.S. trials at the Nevada Test Site spread substantial amounts of
radioactivity across broad swaths of the country. When fallout from all
tests, domestic and foreign, is taken together, no U.S. resident born after
1951 escaped exposure, the study says.
The study is the government's first effort to assess the nationwide effects
of all forms of radiation from the hundreds of aboveground nuclear blasts
detonated worldwide before such testing was banned in 1963. The cancer
estimates add a new human toll to the Cold War and raise profound public
policy questions, including whether the government should do cancer
screenings in high-fallout areas.
USA TODAY obtained portions of the study, which was supposed to be finished
more than a year ago.
"There should be no more waiting," says Sen. Tom Harkin, D-Iowa, who pushed
the Department of Health and Human Services to conduct the study in 1998.
"People are still waiting for real communication on their exposure risks and
steps they can take."
The study's estimates of radiation dispersal are based on complex computer
analyses of weather patterns, population trends and other data that can help
gauge public exposure to fallout from aboveground nuclear tests.
The cancer figures are a general nationwide estimate - there is no way to
link specific cases to fallout. The study does not assess cancer risks in
other countries.
The data show that global fallout blanketed much of the USA, with heavy
pockets in Iowa, Tennessee, California, Oregon, Washington and Idaho.
Fallout from the Nevada tests settled more in the mountain and Midwest
states, including Utah, Idaho, Colorado, Kansas, Nebraska, Iowa and
Missouri.
The study measures exposure to an array of fallout elements based on county
of residence, birth date and factors such as consumption of foods that
absorb fallout.
It concludes that about 22,000 cancers, half of them fatal, probably
occurred from external exposure to radioactive fallout. Those could include
everything from melanoma to breast cancer.
The study attributes thousands of additional cancers to internal radiation
exposure, such as inhalation or eating tainted food. Those cancers include
at least 550 fatal leukemias and about 2,500 thyroid cancer deaths.
Nuclear weapons powers "owe the world a real accounting of what they did to
its health," says Arjun Makhijani of the Institute for Energy and
Environmental Research. "The U.S. has been the only honest country so far."
http://www.usatoday.com/news/nation/2002/02/28/usat-nuke.htm
The study shows that far more fallout than previously known reached the USA
from nuclear tests in the former Soviet Union and on several Pacific islands
used for U.S. and British exercises. It also finds that fallout from scores
of U.S. trials at the Nevada Test Site spread substantial amounts of
radioactivity across broad swaths of the country. When fallout from all
tests, domestic and foreign, is taken together, no U.S. resident born after
1951 escaped exposure, the study says.
The study is the government's first effort to assess the nationwide effects
of all forms of radiation from the hundreds of aboveground nuclear blasts
detonated worldwide before such testing was banned in 1963. The cancer
estimates add a new human toll to the Cold War and raise profound public
policy questions, including whether the government should do cancer
screenings in high-fallout areas.
USA TODAY obtained portions of the study, which was supposed to be finished
more than a year ago.
"There should be no more waiting," says Sen. Tom Harkin, D-Iowa, who pushed
the Department of Health and Human Services to conduct the study in 1998.
"People are still waiting for real communication on their exposure risks and
steps they can take."
The study's estimates of radiation dispersal are based on complex computer
analyses of weather patterns, population trends and other data that can help
gauge public exposure to fallout from aboveground nuclear tests.
The cancer figures are a general nationwide estimate - there is no way to
link specific cases to fallout. The study does not assess cancer risks in
other countries.
The data show that global fallout blanketed much of the USA, with heavy
pockets in Iowa, Tennessee, California, Oregon, Washington and Idaho.
Fallout from the Nevada tests settled more in the mountain and Midwest
states, including Utah, Idaho, Colorado, Kansas, Nebraska, Iowa and
Missouri.
The study measures exposure to an array of fallout elements based on county
of residence, birth date and factors such as consumption of foods that
absorb fallout.
It concludes that about 22,000 cancers, half of them fatal, probably
occurred from external exposure to radioactive fallout. Those could include
everything from melanoma to breast cancer.
The study attributes thousands of additional cancers to internal radiation
exposure, such as inhalation or eating tainted food. Those cancers include
at least 550 fatal leukemias and about 2,500 thyroid cancer deaths.
Nuclear weapons powers "owe the world a real accounting of what they did to
its health," says Arjun Makhijani of the Institute for Energy and
Environmental Research. "The U.S. has been the only honest country so far."
