Uranium legacy continues, screenings offered-12 states designated as high-level risk for radiation

[The Straight Story]

Uranium legacy continues, screenings offered


CIBOLA COUNTY - Currently 12 states are designated as high-level risk for radiation exposure. New Mexico, Arizona, Colorado, Nevada and Utah have established Radiation Exposure Services and Educational clinics. In New Mexico, residents are served by RESEP health centers in Shiprock, Laguna and Albuquerque. A majority of patients are uranium mining industry workers.

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Grants Mineral Belt

Between 1953 and 1993, New Mexico was the leader in the United States uranium production. In the 1950s Grants called itself the Uranium Capital of the World. Over the decades the industry reached peak production. During the 1970s and 1980s market demand for the ore decreased substantially.

With the economic downturn of the 1980s, proposed legislation advocated recovery of residual radioactive materials in the region. Sponsors predicted the Ambrosia Lake reclamation project would create 105-125 jobs over a two-year period with an economic impact of $7-9 million.

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She pointed out, “There have been 30,000 claims to date and 71 per cent have been approved.” The maladies most often diagnosed are pulmonary-system cancers and kidney diseases. Fox stated a number of family members' claims have been approved following a relative's death from radiation exposure.

http://www.cibolabeacon.com/articles/2010/02/09/news/doc4b70a5a66aae8530084788.txt



The Radiation Exposure Screening & Education Program (RESEP) helps individuals who live (or lived) in areas where U.S. nuclear weapons testing occurred.

RESEP was created by the Radiation Exposure Compensation Act (RECA) Amendments of 2000 to help thousands of individuals diagnosed with cancer and other diseases caused by exposure to nuclear fallout or nuclear materials such as uranium.

The program awards grants to health care providers in the 12 states most affected by the Cold War's nuclear weapons industry. The grantees serve radiation-exposed individuals and help them establish eligibility for the Radiation Exposure Compensation Program.
About Radiation Exposure

The United States conducted 227 above-ground and 828 below-ground nuclear weapons tests between July 1945 and November 1962. Many of the above-ground tests released radioactive material into the atmosphere that reached the ground as nuclear fallout.

Because the dangers of radiation exposure were unknown at the time, workers were not protected and people who lived near the test sites were not warned or evacuated.

http://ruralhealth.hrsa.gov/radiationexposure/