Downwinders and the Radioactive West

[struggle4progress]

In the 1950s and ‘60s, the U.S. government conducted a series of nuclear tests in the Nevada desert. #nucleartesting #radioactive #nuclear_bomb #radioactivedecay

The resulting fallout would kick off a decades-long debate over cancer rates, the costs of patriotism, and the responsibility of a nation to protect its citizens.

Nuclear testing in the 1950s started a decades-long controversy that endures today. Narrated by actor Peter Coyote, Downwinders and the Radioactive West tells the unsettling stories of those affected by environmental contamination due to nuclear testing in Nevada.

Downwinders and the Radioactive West premiered on Wednesday, January 27 2021. The documentary first aired in recognition of the National Day of Remembrance for Downwinders in the United States. In November 2011, the U.S. Senate unanimously approved a resolution designating the day to acknowledge the harm caused to Americans by the fallout from nuclear testing in Nevada ...

[ramapo]

1. It wasn't just the West

Clearly they got the worst of it.

I remember as a kid in North Jersey that Strontium 90 in the milk was a concern. There were post-test news reports tracking the radiation as it moved west-to-east across the country.

I would think some unlucky people along the way developed health problems later in life due to exposure.

[NNadir]

6. It would be interesting to compare strontium 90 deaths in NJ with deaths from being downwind of PA coal plants.

Unfortunately, nobody gives a shit about coal waste; it's not nearly as sexy - at least in the minds of people who thrive on selective attention - as "radioactive" stuff.

[IowaUnionman]

2. Fallout

Yes we in southeastern Iowa also had newspaper warnings about fallout in milk.
Our family bought milk straight from the dairy .50 a gallon. To be exposed you had to drink milk that was within 48 hours after contamination. My mom , my older brother and I all have thyroid cancer .
First thing my endocrinologist asked me was, where did you get exposed to radiation ?
The Iowa atomic energy plant workers which was 30 miles away all received government compensation but we down winders did not. Senator Tom Harkin started the program after his brother passed away from thyroid cancer.

[Ilsa]

3. K&R. nt

[OKIsItJustMe]

4. At least that testing was "confined" to the continental US

https://nsarchive.gwu.edu/briefing-book/environmental-diplomacy-nuclear-vault/2016-07-22/bikini-bomb-tests-july-1946

Bikini A-Bomb Tests July 1946

…

An acquaintance was a missionary in the Marshall Islands when she was a teenager. She always wondered about what long-term effects that might have on her health, and she was only there for a year (unlike the Marshallese.)

I knew a fellow who was a Naval Corpsman at Bikini, sailors were sent in to “decontaminate” targetted ships after the test. They were given mops & buckets.



“Yup! It’s radioactive alright!”

[hunter]

5. My father-in-law witnessed one of theose explosions up close...

... and was sent scrambling across the desert as the mushroom cloud was rising overhead.

Our military wanted to see how soldiers might fare in actual atomic warfare. When the exercise was over they washed off the radioactive dust in camp showers.

All the men were all sworn to secrecy and were not released from that vow until the Clinton Administration.

My father-in-law, who is in his nineties now, is visiting for the holiday, apparently suffering no ill effects from the experiment. Some of his fellow servicemen were not so fortunate.