[ RadSafe ] More on Chernobyl

[John Jacobus]

Over statement of compensation programs? Maybe yes,
maybe no.  The following appeared in today's
Washington Post.  

FINDINGS

Post
Friday, April 29, 2005; A13

U.S. Urged to Hear Radiation Cancer Claims

A federal panel of experts is recommending the
government open the door to hearing cancer claims from
people in all states who think they were affected by
nuclear fallout from 1950s weapons tests in Nevada.
Whether the proposal will have any practical effect
seems questionable, however.

Cancer sufferers would have to prove the nuclear
fallout caused their illness, and making that case
would be very difficult.

The recommendation released yesterday by a National
Research Council panel is a nod to scientific data
that were not available in 1990 when the government
initially apologized to cancer victims and created a
compensation fund.

The data suggest people from as far away as the East
Coast could have been exposed to radiation carried
from the Nevada test sites by wind and weather
patterns. Previously, only people who worked with
uranium and residents of certain counties in the
region were eligible for the $50,000 to $100,000
lump-sum payments.

The Board on Radiation Effects Research said the
recommendation would likely benefit few additional
people, because it would require Congress to redraw
the criteria for eligibility.

. . .

-- From News Services

© 2005 The Washington Post Company


--- "Dukelow, James S Jr" <jim.dukelow at pnl.gov> wrote:
> 
> John,
> 
> You overstate the compensation programs.  Although
> Congress stampeded
> over the DOE Worker Compensation cliff several years
> ago, not much has
> been paid and it never applied to just "anyone" who
> worked at DOE (or
> its contractors).  There has been no Hanford
> downwinder compensation
> program although many lawsuits have been bumping
> around in the court
> system for 10-15 years now.  Trials for the first
> **six** plaintiffs
> just got underway.
> . . .

+++++++++++++++++++
"Embarrassed, obscure and feeble sentences are generally, if not always, the result of embarrassed, obscure and feeble thought."
Hugh Blair, 1783

-- John
John Jacobus, MS
Certified Health Physicist
e-mail:  crispy_bird at yahoo.com

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