-----A father who had witnessed the deadly clouds while working in southern Utah told the author that when his son was born "his face was a massive hole and they had to put all these pieces of his face back together." "I could see down his throat, everything was just turned inside out, his face was curled out and it was horrible," he continued. "I wanted to die. I wanted him to die." The boy survived, but his father became suicidally depressed. -----
-------------------------------
From 1951 to 1962, the Atomic Energy Commission detonated nuclear bombs in the Nevada desert. Radioactive fallout from the open-air blasts dusted the skies and caused great damage to Mormon farm communities in Utah and Arizona. Medical records show that thousands of people were subjected to cancer-causing radiation.............the Americans whose misfortune it was to live downwind of the nuclear detonations - those citizens described in a top-secret Atomic Energy Commission memo as "a low-use segment of the population" - and of civilian workers and military personnel exposed to radiation at the Nevada Test Site.
Tests conducted in secret by the Public Health Service and the Atomic Energy Commission showed that the effects of the blasts reached far beyond ground zero in Nevada. Milk was poisoned in New England, wheat in South Dakota, soil in Virginia and fish in the Great Lakes, and sheep, horses and cattle were burned by fallout far beyond the Government's atomic reservation.
------------------------------
American Ground Zero: The Secret Nuclear War by Carole Gallagher (1993) is a gripping and compelling photo-documentary that describes the largely untold story of the suffering and death of hardworking Americans at the hands of our own Government.
8 comments:
Hey Ohighway, I've got this book too! I found it by accident while looking for other technical books in the science section of B&N, and I had to buy it.
Amazing, shocking, and so sad. As much as I support nuclear research, someone had to make this book and I'm glad that they did. Even if only to confirm that we must be very careful with new discoveries that we don't have all the facts about yet. While you can't fault ignorance, you can fault not helping and compensating people after the govt realizes what's been done to them. :-(
P.S. On a related subject, a long time ago I saw a documentary on TV about the girls who used to work in the factories that made clocks with radioactive glowing paint on the hands, numbers, etc. Unknowingly, they used to lick the paint brushes to keep the bristles pointed while painting, and play around with painting themselves because it glowed in the dark. They never knew that it was so dangerous. Needless to say, later in life they contracted some very serious health problems. I can't remember if the clock company or the govt helped them out in any way.
Yes I heard the story about the women working with radium. Here's some info. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Radium_Girls
Similar to the situation with the downwinders mentioned in American Ground Zero, the employers of the radium girls knew the dangers, even protected themselves, but but had no problem allowing, even encouraging, the girls to do stuff they knew would harm them.
I have kids, and I mostly tell them (so they won't be scared) that there are no monsters. Some of the history we're talking about would certianly indicate otherwise.
As time allows I'll view your blog in more detail. I did get a chance to skim over "Out of the Pit". Much of the stuff you describe I've experienced, even though I'm a male technician. Comments about engineers and who gets credit for work hit the bullseye. Sounds like you and I have had similar experiences. Unfortunately a lot of this stuff must be universal. Ugh.
Regarding the Government, and nuclear research....
http://naav.com/
I love this country, I really do. But why is it that the country that asks it's citizens to step up to the plate, even if it means paying the ultimate price, is so quick to ditch these same folks if they start to have service related troubles ?? I just don't get it.
Oh wow, that's sad about the girls. Thanks for that info, I always wanted to research more, but didn't know where to start, and forgot that the paint was radium. Thanks for the govt link too.
Sorry that your job environment is similar, but I guess that anywhere that there are humans, there will be bad/evil management. I love America too, but it's like corporations only being as good as the people running them. :-p At IBM, it seemed like once the Watson family was out, it was all downhill from there...i.e., eventually, no more IBM Family. Then came the Cookie Monster and the Watson influence was dead forever. :-(
Hey Capcom. Thanks for the tips about the spammers. Regarding my job and environment, I was speaking from nearly 30 years of what I observed in the Government. Some of my friends who decided to go contractor ended up running up into the exact same things, so it must be universal. Even though I've seen some real...er....STUFF going on I feel fortunate to have done reasonably well overall. And 4 years ago I ended up transferring from a miserable organization, to one that is filled with real gems of human beings. Wish my entire career could have been spent where I am now. Not to be. Eligible to retire in Sept. Probably go then, or possibly Jan. 09.
BTW in your "Pit" blog, "Stuff I've learned", #6,and #7 aren't useless, they are actually the ones who do the work that #8 gets credit for.
>8~i
Wow, so glad that you landed in a great environment, the people make all the difference, for sure. Maybe you can hang on a little longer while you're happy.
Aw, thanks. Yeah, especially when management is afraid of said #8, because she previously got fired for falsifying her timecard and then sued for discrimination against foreigners, got hired back, and got her manager fired for it in return. Truth really is stranger than fiction, ya can't make this stuff up. :-p
I want to comment more but it would probably be best done "offline". I have an email link in my profile.
Post a Comment