Is the radiation exposure compensation method sufficient? | Opinion

Vladimir Putin’s barely obscured threat Use nuclear weapons In Ukraine, radiation exposure is once again increasing the catastrophic effects that can have on a large area of ​​the population.

So there is a careless decision by Russian soldiers to occupy temporarily. Old Chernobyl A nuclear power plant that was the site of the worst nuclear power plant disaster in the world in 1986. They may have been exposed to harmful radiation.

This perception should have a special impact on the interior of the western United States, the only region of the United States that has been repeatedly exposed to the effects of nuclear weapons tests conducted by the US government over the years. Many people in southern Utah and other parts of the state were particularly affected by the tests conducted in Nevada.

The government has provided some returns to a limited group of victims since 1990. It took too long to take responsibility for this tragedy, and now it takes too long to own to the true extent of the damage.

For many of these victims, the nightmare of fighting the various types of cancer associated with mid-20th century decisions continues.

Utah Senator Mike Leigh Radiation exposure compensation method Another two years. If there is no extension, the rewards program will expire on July 10.

Lee wanted his more generous conditions Downwinders ActThis provided a more meaningful 10-year extension, expanding coverage to other western counties where unusually high levels of specific cancers have been recorded. This requires very necessary research by the Department of Health and Human Services.

But the bill remains on the committee.

2 years extension Unanimously Senate last week. The house needs to act swiftly so that the program is not interrupted. But Congress should not stop there.

Last year, Utah parliamentarians Kristen Stewart and Burgess Owens Sponsor the bill In a house that should have included victims of Colorado, Idaho, Montana, New Mexico, Guam, as well as additional areas of Arizona, Nevada, and Utah. The compensation program would have been extended for another 19 years, including uranium miners and others affected by the test program. In addition to payments, the affected people would have received medical benefits.

This is a necessary type of program and should be supported by all Utah delegations.As Owens and Stewart said Dezalet News Editorial Last year, “The tragic consequences of the nuclear arms race cannot be wiped out under the rug of history.”

From the beginning, the federal government was reluctant to admit to its people what they had done. Even after Congress approved the indemnity, he was reluctant to acknowledge the true extent of the damage it caused.

The damage is enormous. For decades, Dezalet News enthusiastically followed this story as early as July 16, 1945, when the first nuclear bomb (coded by Trinity) exploded in a test in the New Mexico desert. The government reported that it understood the danger. Radioactivity from the blast was found 120 miles from zero.

As October 28, 1990 Dezalet News ReportOne scientist calculated that the May 1953 explosion “caused about 80% of the fallout that drifted northeast of Utah during the year the test was conducted.”

It didn’t stop the test. Another 1953 explosion killed more than 4,300 sheep in eastern Nevada and southwestern Utah, but the government instead attributed them to toxic weeds.

Still, the test went on for years. Leaders and activists in other states believe that fallout was much more extensive than in Nevada or southern Utah. Only a thorough analysis of evidence, including abnormal patterns of cancer cases, reveals its extent.

Even the current level of compensation of up to $ 50,000 for claimants whose cancer is caused by fallout can add to a huge amount of money.

Lee wants to fund the research by selling government-owned spectra for the Internet and other uses. Given the current level of federal debt, income for such expansion is important. But Americans who have been hurt and lied by their own government deserve compensation.

The difference between the United States and Russia today should be that this country is willing to take responsibility for wrongdoing.

Perhaps truly explaining what Washington has done to its own people in the name of national security is the only way to prevent that from happening again under similar circumstances.