Remember the Downwinders

Today,  Jan. 27 is a National Day of Remembrance for Downwinders. Nuclear testing by the U.S. government started in New Mexico with the Trinity Test in July 1945, and the Crossroads Series of three tests followed in the Pacific in 1946. The United States took part in nuclear testing as part of the escalating Cold War arms race, and nuclear weapons proliferated. Americans working and living downwind from nuclear testing sites became sick and killed by the radiation exposure generated from the aboveground atomic tests in Nevada, which began on January 27, 1951 and ended on July 17, 1962. With each nuclear test, radioactive fallout spread globally. Of course, downwinders are not only American. At the so-called “Pacific Proving Grounds” in the Marshall Islands, 67 nuclear weapons were detonated between 1945 and 1962.

From GUAM PACIFIC DAILY NEWS 1/27/25:

“It became a site of unimaginable destruction that did not stop at the blast zones. The radioactive fallout spread across the Pacific, settling on many islands like ours.” — Guam Senator Therese Terlaje

Seven of the top 10 adult cancers on Guam are now recognized as compensable for radiation exposure by the federal government, the senator noted.

NukeWatch will keep working for full and expanded radiation exposure compensation for all those adversly impacted by the vast and long-reaching, tragic effects of the U.S. nuclear weapons complex’s radioactive testing history. After congress let the Radiation Exposure Compensation Act (RECA) expire last year, in recent good news, U.S. Senators Luján, Hawley, Heinrich, Schmitt, have just reintroduced the bill.

“The time to reauthorize RECA is now. The Senate has done this twice before and must do it again. For far too long, Missourians and others across America have suffered without compensation from their government. It is vital that we unite to pass this legislation now, and that the President sign it into law,” Sen. Hawley said.

See more on the Radiation Exposure Compensation Act (RECA) and the Military Budget:

A pie we’re not thankful for

From THE SALT LAKE TRIBUNE:

The Senate has already shown that fixing RECA is a bipartisan issue with broad support. Now we need our representatives to come together and get the job done, for all of the people we’ve lost and for all of Utah.

As a community and a country, we have a responsibility to serve these brothers and sisters and their families with care and compassion. It’s long past time for Congress to fix RECA to include long-ignored victims.

See More:

Why a National Day of Remembrance for Downwinders is Not Enough