Current:Home > StocksTop prosecutors from 14 states back compensation for those sickened by US nuclear weapons testing -Elevate Capital Network
Top prosecutors from 14 states back compensation for those sickened by US nuclear weapons testing
View
Date:2025-04-17 06:05:53
ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. (AP) — New Mexico Attorney General Raúl Torrez and top prosecutors from 13 other states are throwing their support behind efforts to compensate people sickened by exposure to radiation during nuclear weapons testing.
The Democratic officials sent a letter Wednesday to congressional leader, saying “it’s time for the federal government to give back to those who sacrificed so much.”
The letter refers to the estimated half a million people who lived within a 150-mile (240-kilometer) radius of the Trinity Test site in southern New Mexico, where the world’s first atomic bomb was detonated in 1945. It also pointed to thousands of people in Idaho, Colorado, Nevada, Utah, Arizona, Montana and Guam who currently are not eligible under the existing compensation program.
The U.S. Senate voted recently to expand the Radiation Exposure Compensation Act as part of a massive defense spending bill. Supporters are hopeful the U.S. House will include the provisions in its version of the bill, and President Joe Biden has indicated his support.
“We finally have an opportunity to right this historic wrong,” Torrez said in a statement.
The hit summer film “Oppenheimer” about the top-secret Manhattan Project and the dawn of the nuclear age during World War II brought new attention to a decadeslong efforts to extend compensation for families who were exposed to fallout and still grapple with related illness.
It hits close to home for Torrez, who spent summers visiting his grandmother in southern New Mexico, who lived about 70 miles (110 kilometers) from where the Trinity Test was conducted. She used rainwater from her cistern for cooking and cleaning, unaware that it was likely contaminated as a result of the detonation.
The attorneys in their letter mentioned the work of a team of researchers who mapped radioactive fallout from nuclear weapons tests in the U.S., starting with the Trinity Test in 1945. The model shows the explosions carried out in New Mexico and Nevada between 1945 and 1962 led to widespread radioactive contamination, with Trinity making a significant contribution to exposure in New Mexico. Fallout reached 46 states as well as parts of Canada and Mexico.
“Without any warning or notification, this one test rained radioactive material across the homes, water, and food of thousands of New Mexicans,” the letter states. “Those communities experienced the same symptoms of heart disease, leukemia, and other cancers as the downwinders in Nevada.”
The letter also refers to an assessment by the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, which acknowledged that exposure rates in public areas from the Trinity explosion were measured at levels 10,000 times higher than currently allowed.
U.S. Sen. Ben Ray Luján, the New Mexico Democrat who has been leading the effort to expand the compensation program to include New Mexico’s downwinders and others in the West, held a listening session in Albuquerque last Thursday. Those exposed to radiation while working in uranium mines and mills spoke at the gathering about their experiences.
Luján in an interview called it a tough issue, citing the concerns about cost that some lawmakers have and the tears that are often shared by families who have had to grapple with cancer and other health problems as a result of exposure.
“It’s important for everyone to learn these stories and embrace what happened,” he said, “so that we can all make things better.”
veryGood! (4148)
Related
- Who are the most valuable sports franchises? Forbes releases new list of top 50 teams
- College protesters vow to keep demonstrations as schools shut down encampments amid reports of antisemitism
- Mass arrests, officers in riot gear: Pro-Palestinian protesters face police crackdowns
- Lawsuit claims bodycam video shows officer assaulting woman who refused to show ID in her home
- This was the average Social Security benefit in 2004, and here's what it is now
- Up To 70% Off at Free People? Yes Please! Shop Their Must-Have Styles For Less Now
- Survivor Season One Star Sonja Christopher Dead at 87
- As border debate shifts right, Sen. Alex Padilla emerges as persistent counterforce for immigrants
- Can Bill Belichick turn North Carolina into a winner? At 72, he's chasing one last high
- California Disney characters are unionizing decades after Florida peers. Hollywood plays a role
Ranking
- Will the 'Yellowstone' finale be the last episode? What we know about Season 6, spinoffs
- Poppy Harlow leaves CNN after nearly two decades: 'I will be rooting for CNN always'
- Metal detectorist finds centuries-old religious artifact once outlawed by emperor
- Kourtney Kardashian and Travis Barker's Family Photos With Son Rocky
- The Daily Money: Spending more on holiday travel?
- No HBCU players picked in 2024 NFL draft, marking second shutout in four years
- Kitten season is here and it's putting a strain on shelters: How you can help
- Oregon university pauses gifts and grants from Boeing in response to student and faculty demands
Recommendation
Apple iOS 18.2: What to know about top features, including Genmoji, AI updates
Eagles draft Jeremiah Trotter Jr., son of Philadelphia's Pro Bowl linebacker
Bachelor Nation's Nick Viall Marries Natalie Joy 2 Months After Welcoming Baby Girl
Nicole Kidman, who ‘makes movies better,’ gets AFI Life Achievement Award
Federal Spending Freeze Could Have Widespread Impact on Environment, Emergency Management
Infamous Chicago 'rat-hole' landmark removed due to 'damages,' reports say
Kitten season is here and it's putting a strain on shelters: How you can help
A suspect is in custody after 5 people were shot outside a club in the nation’s capital, police say