Three genetic tests were carried out. Two were to check for the ability of the body to repair genetic damage, and in these tests there was no difference between the veterans and the control group.

But the third test — called the "mFISH procedure," which attempts to spot actual genetic damage — had far worse results for the veterans.

The rate of chromosomal translocations, where bits of genetic material become detached and reattached to the wrong places, was 10 translocations in 1,000 cells for the control group. "We found in the veterans, on average, 29 per 1,000 cells, and that is high," Rowland said.

In the report, the veterans were reported to have "an extraordinarily high number of total stable translocations...."

"I found evidence of genetic damage, that's all I can report." After accounting for every other possible cause for the difference, he said, "We submit it's radiation exposure."

Translocations can prompt cancer. Under certain conditions, a cell affected by translocations can "give constant, continuous signals: divide, divide, divide," he said. "And that's a cancer cell."

DNA repair mechanisms were still working well for the veterans. That led the researchers to believe "there must still be a lot of, we suspect, alpha (radioactive) particles in their systems today" that are still causing damage. He said DNA repairs can't keep pace with the damage because there are so many translocations.

Massey University's online news — masseynews.massey.ac.nz — quotes a veterans group chairman as saying more than 400 of the 551 sailors who took part in Operation Grapple have died.

Asked if such a study would be worthwhile for Utahns who lived downwind from the Nevada Test Site, Rowland said, "Indeed it is.... Exactly it is."

J Truman, a former southern Utahn who lives in Malad, Idaho, and heads Downwinders United, called for better answers about harm from atomic testing.

"There are enough of us downwinders, already," he said. Truman worried that there could be "many more we don't fully know about, among our children and grandchildren," harmed through genetic damage.

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E-mail: bau@desnews.com