Atomic Victims?
Fallout from an old report
Kenneth Lamoreaux grew up on his family'sfarm in the southwestern Utah town of Paragonah. One day in 1960, atage 15, he was diagnosed as having acute lymphatic leukemia. Ten dayslater he was dead. A cousin died of leukemia in 1963, another hassuffered from thyroid cancer. One common denominator: proximity to morethan 80 above-ground atomic-bomb tests held at the nearby Nevadaproving grounds from 1951 to 1962.
The Government has long denied the claims of area families that falloutfrom the testing posed a health hazard. Last week the residents' casewas bolstered by a previously unpublished piece of evidence: a 1965U.S. Public Health Service report on two southwestern Utah countiesindicating that from 1950 to 1964 there were nine more deaths fromleukemia than expected in a population of 20,000 . Thestudy, uncovered by the Washington Post under the Freedom ofInformation Act, had long been ignored by the U.S.P.H.S. because, asits author admitted, the pattern of deaths was inconclusive. Anothersurvey of the fallout area showed a growing number of thyroid cancerdeaths between 1965 and 1967. It too was inconclusive; but both studiesshould have encouraged further monitoring of the residents.
In Washington, a shocked HEW Secretary Joseph Califano has called for asearch of old health files for the region. Back in Utah, a newly formed"committee of survivors" is on the lookout for more possible victims.Before their grim search is over, the "survivors" expect to find adramatically higher toll.
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