CHAPTER 1

INTRODUCTION

In the 1950s exploding atomic bombs produced mushroom clouds abovethe Nevada Test Site (NTS). The inhabitants of St. George, Utah—theso-called downwinders—were repeatedly in the fly zone of these toxic,wind-blown clouds, so much so that St. George became known nationwideas Fallout City, USA. The result of this fallout has been called "An AmericanNuclear Tragedy," with major emphasis on Utah. It was widely believedthat the heavy hand of government censorship suppressed knowledge ofthe adverse health effects suffered by the Utah downwinders. Censorshipworked, so the story goes, because of the my-country-wrong-or-rightignorance of the devout Mormons who absolutely could not questiongovernment officials.

The federal record of communicating with downwinders waswretched. Downwinders were woefully uninformed of simple, commonsense practices that would have greatly reduced their exposure to eachfallout episode, namely to stay indoors and under cover, to wear a hatoutdoors, and to bath and change clothes upon returning home, to scruband clean food, and to avoid feeding cows forage dusted with radioactivefallout. Feeding cows on stored feed rather than on open pasturage almosteliminates any fallout hazard in milk.

To be fair, however, many in the radiation protection community inthe early 1950s believed that any adverse health effects were due to longlasting overexposure. Small doses of ionizing radiation were believed tobe entirely safe. This presumption of safety was supported by most of theavailable scientific data at the time.

In 1976 two media outlets in Salt Lake City—television station KUTVand the Deseret News—belatedly alerted the country to the possible adversehealth effects of fallout by telling the Paul Cooper story. Cooper claimedhis leukemia was caused by the fallout exposure he received during militarymaneuvers associated with shot Smoky at the NTS in 1957.

Fallout City downwinders soon found their voice, telling their storiesto a crew filming the documentary titled Paul Jacobs and the Nuclear Gang.Stories by downwinders told of fallout "snow" that burned their fingers,their faces, and other exposed body parts. Others told of family membersafflicted with cancer.

Then in the fall of 1978 Stewart Udall and a team of lawyers reportedthat downwinders' cancer rates had reached epidemic levels. According toPhilip L. Fradkin, in Fallout: An American Nuclear Tragedy,

"Udall was quoted often in local newspapers that fall. Afterinterviewing 125 people during a four-day period in October1978, the Washington lawyer said the enormity of the situationwas shocking, cancer rates were three or four times greater thannormal."

At a press conference held to announce plans for a class-action lawsuitagainst the United States, Udall was quoted saying he was stunned by theabnormally high number of suspected fallout cancer victims. Udall wouldlater write: "The sturdy Mormon families [are] struggling with tragediesinflicted by a cancer epidemic foisted on them by the Atomic EnergyCommission."

Udall and Associates eventually composed a list of 1,192 plaintiffsconsisting of heirs of deceased cancer victims or individuals still survivingwith cancer. The list of cancer victims totaled 262 actual cases drawn frommany counties in Utah (and some outside Utah), including 144 deceasedcancer victims and 118 surviving cancer victims. Two dozen of theseplaintiffs were picked for the Allen et al. v. United States trial beginning onSeptember 20, 1982, in the Federal District Court in Salt Lake City.

The national publications and networks picked up the downwinders'story. Several major fallout-cancer stories appeared in The Washington Post,The New York Times, the Las Angeles Times. Articles also appeared in Time,Newsweek, Family Circle, Life, Parade, People and other magazines. Thefollowing quote is from People magazine: "Reputable scientist now suspectthat the test caused a phenomenally high rate of cancer and thyroid diseaseamong residents of St. George."

In 1979 Salt Lake TV station KUTV aired Clouds of Doubt, anaward-winning documentary on the downwinders. Later in 1981 thestation produced another documentary called Downwinders.

Irma Thomas, one of St. George's leading citizens, became knownnationwide. Her story of a St. George neighborhood racked with cancerwas told in at least three major newspapers, the Los Angeles Times, The NewYork Times, and The Washington Post. Television networks also covered herstory. Irma appeared on Good Morning America, the Today Show and TedKoppel Live.

A number of popular books appeared about downwinders sufferingall sorts of health problems—cancer, birthing a defective child, having amiscarriage and so on. These books laying bare the details of a governmentcover-up were rushed into print.

The books contained many statements like the following from KillingOur Own:

Cancer had never been a noticeable problem before [insouthwestern Utah]. But, as the 1950s wore on, and for decadesafterward, the ravaging effects came like a pestilence in serialform: leukemia, usually the quickest to result from radiationexposure, came first; numerous types of cancer ... tended toarrive later.

On the back cover of The Day We Bombed Utah:

In May 1953, the Atomic Energy Commission conducted a"safe" nuclear test called "Dirty Harry" near St. George, Utah ...Within a few years, a plague of cancer and birth defects hadripped through the area—a plague that may have caused thecancer-related deaths of John Wayne and over 100 other castand crew members of The Conqueror.

After the...