End to nuclear tests urged at town meeting

ST. GEORGE — Dave Timothy remembers drinking lots of milk as a child growing up in Washington County during the nuclear bomb tests of the 1950s in nearby Nevada.

"I wanted to grow up to be big and strong," said Timothy, a slender gray-haired man who appears older than his 55 years. "But there was the element iodine 131 in the milk we drank, and I had cancer by the time I was 18."

Timothy and more than 160 other southern Utah residents gathered at the Dixie Center on Saturday for a town meeting with Rep. Jim Matheson, D-Utah. Those who attended the two-hour session not only shared their personal stories of living and dying with cancer, they heard Matheson's as well.

"My son never got to know my dad," said Matheson, 43, whose late father, former Utah Gov. Scott Matheson, died at age 61 from a type of cancer associated with exposure to radioactive fallout. "I think about my dad every day. I don't want to create another generation who has to face that."

Last week, Matheson introduced HR 3921 or The Safety for Americans from Nuclear Weapons Testing Act. The bill, said Matheson, would protect Americans' health and safety in the event that nuclear testing resumes at the Nevada Test Site.

"This is not a Utah issue alone. It's a national issue and we need to teach people about the risks we face," he said. "In good conscience we can't go down this road again."

Mary Jean Neilson Anderson grew up in Washington city and recalled childhood memories of watching bloated family cows foam at the mouth and eventually "puff up and die" following the nuclear bomb tests, she said.

"We used to invite the neighbors over and have a big watermelon bust while we watched the bomb," she said. "This is totally asinine and ridiculous to even consider resuming nuclear testing."

More than one person asked Matheson what they could do to help get his new bill passed by Congress.

"I've got one co-sponsor and I'm looking for 216 more," Matheson replied. "I think this is a very responsible piece of legislation. This is not a partisan issue. I need you to talk to anyone you know around the country. We need to get this bill moving."

The legislation would require the government to conduct a National Environmental Policy Act review to assess health, safety and environmental impacts prior to conducting nuclear weapons testing. It would also require congressional authorization for testing to resume at the Nevada Test Site and a week's notice issued to the public.