nuclear-news

Navajo and other nuclear victims sought for compensation

Program Aims To Find Victims Of Radiation Exposure. cbs4denver.com,  FELICIA FONSECA, Associated Press Apr 4, 2010, FLAGSTAFF, Ariz. (AP) ― Some toiled in uranium mines, transported the extracted ore and carried it home on their clothes. Others participated in nuclear weapons testing or lived downwind from test sites.Not all have been compensated, let alone know about a federal program that does so.

Larry Martinez knows of thousands of them who live on the Navajo Nation, and this summer he hopes to get some help finding more in the towns that dot the 27,000-square-mile reservation.A new U.S. Department of Justice program will select 30 students to travel the vast reservation and other communities in the Four Corners region to identify potential participants in the federal compensation program……..
Congress in 1990 authorized compensation for people who worked in or were affected by uranium mining or nuclear weapons testing between 1942 and 1971 and contracted cancer or other diseases from radon exposure.

From April 1992 through March 2010, the government has paid out nearly $1.5 billion in some 22,350 claims. Almost 9,000 other claims have been denied, primarily because the claimant did not have a covered illness, according to the DOJ……….Many people hesitate to file because they’re ashamed of their illness or believe its a death sentence, and cannot prove work history, establish residency or obtain medical records, he said.

Program Aims To Find Victims Of Radiation Exposure – cbs4denver.com

April 5, 2010 - Posted by Christina Macpherson | Legal, USA | antinuclear, cancer, indigenous, nuclear, nuclear secrecy, nuclear spin, nuclear wastes, nuclear weapons, radiation, reactors, uranium