From Deseret News archives:
530 N-cancers on isles?
Study says half of ills from years-ago blasts have yet to develop
The report indicates a plague of radiation-induced illness and death is far from over. More than half of the 530 cases have yet to develop, nearly 50 years after the blasts stopped.
The study has relevance to Utahns because this state also was heavily exposed to fallout, drifting in from open-air nuclear explosions at the Nevada Test Site in the 1950s and early '60s. If similar latency periods extend between exposure and cancer in downwind areas of the United States, Utahns could suffer future illness and deaths from fallout.
Another connection is that standards used by Congress to pay compensation to Utahns from particular areas who suffer certain kinds of cancer were used as a model for compensation awarded to Marshall Islanders.
Although scientists have known for decades that Marshallese were displaced from their homes and harmed by the fallout, until now nobody knew how many would develop cancer because of the tests.
It was completed in September 2004. But according to a report by Agence France-Presse, cited by Yahoo News, it was only released last week after officials of the Republic of the Marshall Islands saw a reference to it in a report to Congress.
The Deseret Morning News obtained a copy of the study.
The Marshalls were occupied by Japan before World War II and the islands were seized by the United States during that conflict. From 1946 through 1958, the country detonated 66 nuclear bombs, in seven series of tests, at Bikini and Enewetak atolls in the Marshalls, the report notes.
Total explosive yield was about 100 million tons of TNT. Possibly the most dangerous to the population of the Marshalls was the Castle Bravo test of 1954, equivalent to 15 million tons.
Shortly after the explosion, "fallout was unexpectedly deposited on Rongelap, Utrik, and other inhabited atolls to the east and southeast of Bikini Atoll . . . resulting in by far the greatest exposure from any of the tests conducted in the Marshall Islands," the report says.
Recent comments
MY WIFE HAS JUST BEEN DIAGNOSED WITH LUNG CANCER. SHE WAS BORN IN...
DENNIS BISCHOF | July 18, 2009 at 10:11 a.m.
i would not hold my breath waiting for the government to do anything...
dinasaur | July 17, 2009 at 8:05 p.m.
- John King replacing Dobbs show 12:44 p.m.
- U.S. banks prepaying $45B in fees 12:42 p.m.
- Tough choices on abortion coverage 12:40 p.m.
- Hornets fire coach Byron Scott 12:39 p.m.
- New U. telescope captures universe 12:36 p.m.
- 'Office Space' star Livingston weds 12:35 p.m.
- Utah case: U.S.-Indian culture clash 12:33 p.m.
- Dads rewrite rock songs for kids 12:29 p.m.
- Keep laughing at your kids 12:28 p.m.
- Cougars land Vegas standout 12:27 p.m.
- House passes health care bill
294 - SLC council OKs gay rights policies
279 - TCU showdown has big implications
195 - Senators want food tax restored
158 - Cougars crush hapless Cowboys
155 - Utah Jazz fall apart against Kings
131 - TCU 4th in AP poll; U. 16th, Y. 22nd
119 - S.L. vote pending on gay protections
110 - Letters: Strange breed in Utah
110 - Pratt pleads not guilty to sex charges
101
One of my guilty pleasures is perusing the covers of celebrity magazines...
I too am unclear about the writers beef with oil companies, but I re-iterate...
Utah is now the happiest state with more non members now living there.
Should start- PG: Deron SG: Korver SF: CJ PF: Boozer C: Fes This is...
umm not quite. Nice try. I looked it up. Stanford added noone after PG QB....
Wow...I hope those little boys don't find out that their moms cried because...
I'm all for the proper and appropriate care of animals. If the animals are...
'Who has been fired/not hired for being gay?' 13,000 men and women...
MORE CENSORSHIP OF MY STATEMENTS! CHRIST TAUGHT THAT WE HAVE "FREE AGENCT" TO...
Hurricane-42 Park City-28
It's go time Wildcats! Blow out NAU and Cal Poly and show the FCS the...


