Hatch urged to boost aid for downwinders

ST. GEORGE — Nearly 200 people crowded a conference room at Dixie Regional Medical Center this week to tell Sen. Orrin Hatch they want the federal government to expand its compensation program for victims of nuclear fallout and stop further weapons testing in Nevada.

Michelle Thomas, who grew up in St. George and suffers from numerous health problems tied to radiation exposure, asked Hatch about the government's plans to test a massive conventional weapon at the test site on June 2.

"Where will you be on June 2?" she asked the senator, who did not answer. "Will you be here with us, or will you be on a plane flying far away from it all?"

Many people, including Thomas, said they are worried about the experiment, in which 700 tons of ammonium nitrate and fuel oil will be blown up. The material will explode with a force equivalent to 593 tons of TNT and is expected to raise a mushroom cloud of dust, which officials have said would cause no harm to the population of Las Vegas and other communities nearby.

"I am not going to let them do anything that would cause downwind damage," Hatch told the group.

Utah's lone Democratic congressman, Rep. Jim Matheson, has already voiced concerns that the experiment could be a possible prelude to resumption of nuclear tests.

One woman told Hatch she feared Utah would do nothing to stop nuclear-weapons tests if they do resume.

"I want Utah to fight to stop this. What do the children of our future do? What do we tell them?" she asked the senator.

Others in the audience questioned whether more could be done for victims of previous radiation exposure.

"I wonder why we can't get help for people who were living in northern Utah at the time," one woman told Utah's senior Republican senator. "There are seven of us who lived in Bountiful at the time of the tests and we've had

breast cancer, liver and kidney cancer."

Hatch said although he worked hard on the government's Radiation Exposure Compensation Act of 1990 and its amendment in 2000, he wishes more people could be covered under the program.

"I have to admit I wish I could have gotten more done," he told the group of mostly senior citizens. "We have expanded the area of coverage, but you have to understand that not every cancer came from this. Scientifically, legally and legislatively it's very, very difficult to work that through."