Nevada Department of Environmental Protection
A nuclear bomb being tested in Nevada in 1957.
During and after World War II, the United States tested more than 1,000 nuclear weapons across the country and in the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans. Hundreds of them exploded in the southwestern United States, mainly in Nevada and New Mexico.
The fallout produced by these explosions traveled hundreds of miles across the Arizona-Utah border. People who lived and worked in areas exposed to this radiation were more likely to develop cancer and other diseases.
They are known as “downwinds”. But in the eyes of the federal government, they are not all created equal.
One of them was Karin Patillo’s father, Ed. He was in his teens living in Kingman when the ground experiments were conducted.
“My family, especially my father, has been greatly affected by the federal government’s negligence,” said Patillo. “…my father had cancer on three separate occasions.”
Ed Pattillo died in April 2022, never being recognized by the U.S. government as being downwind.of Radiation Exposure Compensation Act of 1990, Known as RECA, it does not recognize the lower Mojave County area as affected by nuclear testing. There was no official answer as to why. This law provides compensation for those who lived and worked downwind of a nuclear test facility.
Bipartisan legislation to expand the geographic reach of this law has been introduced in each session of Congress for over a decade. On the other hand, many Arizonans who were exposed to radiation had, and are still suffering from, many health problems. Some have died.
U.S. Department of Justice
RECA covers certain uranium industry jobs in Colorado, New Mexico, Arizona, Wyoming, South Dakota, Washington, Utah, Idaho, North Dakota, Oregon, and Texas .
Laura Taylor is an attorney who represents affected residents and helps them process their claims. To receive help, she said, she must prove that she lives or used to live in a covered area and has one of her statutory diseases.
“I get called a lot and they say, ‘I have endometrial cancer,'” Taylor said. “Well, uterine cancer and endometrial cancer are not covered, but ovarian cancer is covered. So there are some interesting little differences in the program. What’s covered and what’s not?” There are things, so it can cause people frustration.”
Some, such as thyroid cancer and certain other diseases, can be easily associated with radiation exposure in general, while others are not, and are therefore considered likely to be due to radiation exposure. are not included in the list of diseases mentioned in the law.
“Medical records are typically kept for 10 years,” she said. “If you hear about this program and think, ‘Yeah, I had cancer in the ’80s,’ it can be really hard to find medical papers if the person doesn’t keep them. It is also a barrier for people seeking compensation.”
And compensation is not the end. Gene Bishop is a downwinder in Mojave County who received RECA money because he briefly lived in the covered area. She said her $50,000, available to qualified downwind residents, helped pay for health insurance.
“You probably won’t have enough money to lose your home, make a living, pay for medical bills to hospitals and clinics, and subsequent treatment and handicaps,” Bishop said.
She worries that better support for those living downwind is not currently a priority for MPs.
“Somehow, I feel like they keep postponing coverage expansion in the hope that this will go away, or the victim’s claim for this coverage will go away.” I feel that way.”
RECA is scheduled to be retired in 2024.
This story is adapted from the original H.ear Arizona Podcast Series InAccessible, Listen anywhere, including Apple Podcasts and Spotify.
