Jul 13, 2011

Swickard column: Children of the nuclear attack upon New Mexico

© 2011 Michael Swickard, Ph.D. The good news: I am still alive and appreciate every day as a bonus. The bad news: I face health challenges including cancer which my government does not admit causing. I am a New Mexico downwinder. We are the children of the surprise nuclear attack upon New Mexico by our government.On July 16, 1945, the Los Alamos based Manhattan Project came to fruition with the unannounced atomic explosion in New Mexico at Trinity Site. While the explosion was in a remote area, the authorities did not evacuate downwind people. They had no idea of the health challenges they would cause when they spread plutonium on the land, in the air and subsequently in the water supply which transferred to the food chain.There is no excuse for the nuclear testing when they had no idea how long the dangers would persist for New Mexicans. Those living downwind and downstream of Trinity had no way of knowing what poisons were at work on them. Some became ill without understanding what caused their illness.The nuclear fallout descended upon unaware populations in the Rio Grande, Tularosa and Pecos valleys and also assaulted people who consumed the agriculture products from those areas. Map from NuclearCrimes.org The deadly effects of the plutonium were then and even now ignored by the government. To this day New Mexico is not even on the registry for the Federal Radiation Exposure Compensation Act of 1990, an attempt by then Interior Secretary Stewart Udall to address the harm done to Americans by nuclear development and testing.On this 66th anniversary of the Trinity Explosion I remind our national and state leaders that New Mexico citizens were injured and still are suffering. We, myself included, are living a lesser life due to the negligent actions of our government. The unintended consequences of Trinity have not been addressed. Read full column

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