Since the atomic bomb program began during WWII, countless Americans have been exposed to radiation — either from mining uranium or from the tests themselves.
But compensation for the cancers caused by this exposure has been limited, and this summer, Congress allowed the main way of paying for treatment to expire that’s been especially harmful to Native Americans and Mexican Americans living in the southwest.
Late last month, members of several tribes and others affected by exposure went by bus to Washington -- to persuade lawmakers to revive and expand the cancer treatment program.
The Mountain West News Bureau's Yvette Fernandez met up with them and has this report.
The more Idaho matters right now from the studios of Boise State Public Radio News. I'm Gemma Gaudet. Since the atomic bomb program began during World War II, countless Americans have been exposed to radiation, either from mining uranium or from the tests themselves. But compensation for the cancers caused by this exposure have been limited. And this past summer, Congress allowed the main way of paying for treatment to expire. That's been especially harmful to Native Americans and Mexican Americans who live in the Southwest. So late last month, members of several tribes and others affected by exposure went by bus to Washington, D.C. to persuade lawmakers to revive and expand the cancer treatment program. The Mountain West News Bureau's Yvette Fernandez met up with them and has this report. Downwinders are people who have been infected from toxicity following the atomic bomb tests of World War II. When the ash fell from the sky, it blanketed everything, it got into our water and our food. We inhaled it. We absorbed it through our skin. That's Tina Cordova of the Tula Rusa Basin Downwinders Consortium in New Mexico. Her father lived just 45 miles from the Trinity bombing site. I'm the fourth generation to have cancer since 1945 and now we have a fifth generation. Walking through the Capitol's halls in late September, Cordova was hoping to tell her family story as was Phil Harrison, a member of the Navajo Nation and an underground uranium miner. To make the atomic bomb, the country extracted millions of tons of uranium ore, the majority from the Navajo Nation. There was never a time word. Somebody said that this is dangerous work for you, young man. Today, hundreds of abandoned uranium mines remain within the Navajo Nation and have never been cleaned. The deadly chemical continues to seep into the land and water and permeates the air. The Rika program wasn't established until the 1990s and with seemingly arbitrary geographic parameters. Many areas close to the testing sites were left out. And with modern technology, scientists have determined the plumes reached across the country even into eastern states. Exposures have been documented as far away as Guam. Rika also didn't cover miners after 1971. Lawmakers like Representative Melanie Stansbury of New Mexico say the government needs to take responsibility. People who are living with the pain, living with the cancers, living with the diseases that were caused by the U.S. government's efforts to win these wars should not have to get on a bus and travel across the country. Last summer, the Senate passed an expanded version of the original Radiation Exposure Compensation Act, but the House has yet to vote on it. Conservative Republicans have balked at the estimated multi-billion dollar cost for expansion. Advocates have made concessions, including spending caps. One cost-saving proposal is to separate the downwinders from the miners. A concession they are not willing to make says Don Chapman with just moms of Missouri. "How dare anybody, anybody expect me to let somebody else's kid die. That is dangling hope in front of us. We will not have it." Ceremonial dances and prayers preceded their arrival at House Speaker Mike Johnson's office. Johnson has never agreed to meet with a group, so they set out to deliver symbolic medical bills, like Virginia Chavez, whose husband Randolph died seven years ago. "One million, two hundred and seventy seven thousand, six hundred and forty dollars for his treatment for cancer." While Speaker Johnson's aide politely accepted their documents, he told them this was not the appropriate way to get his attention. Cordova says they've tried every option with no success. "How can another human being not recognize the humanity of this sacrifice and this suffering?" Harrison says it's discrimination. "I don't know really how to educate members of Congress. It seems like they really are not interested. To me, I think it's a lot has to do with racism." With the Capitol in the background and Luminaudius in front, they remembered their loved ones, reading their names out loud. Mary Martinez-White, whose entire family has contracted cancer, says this is a silent killer that should be of concern to all Americans. "It continues because only three pounds of the weapons grade plutonium fissioned, 10.7 pounds is still out there blowing in the wind, and it has a half-life of 24,000 years." Activists are hoping there may be a new perspective after the election. For the Mountain West News Bureau, I'm Yvette Fernandez. Thanks so much for listening to Idaho Matters. Boise State Public Radio and Idaho Matters are members of the NPR Network. It's an independent coalition of public media podcasters. You can find more shows on the network wherever you get your podcasts. I'm Jamma Gaudette. We'll see you tomorrow. The candidates for November are set between now and election day, a campaign season unfolding faster. Maris is not getting a promotion than any in recent history. Make America great again. Follow it all with new episodes every weekday on the NPR Politics Podcast.
