Finally good news on RECA
After years of advocacy by impacted communities, Congress has reinstated and actually expanded the Radiation Exposure Compensation Act (RECA). This historic update means that many more people, including those who lived in all of Utah, New Mexico, and Idaho during the 1950’s and 60’s nuclear testing era are now eligible for $100,000 in compensation if they develop certain cancers linked to radiation exposure. Uranium workers, residents near nuclear waste sites in select states, and additional categories of leukemia patients are also included.
Proof that you lived in one of these areas for a period of 2 years from 1951-1962.
A huge thank you to all of the groups, and advocates who called Congress to make this a priority.
For many families, this will be the first time federal recognition and financial assistance is within reach. Survivors and even descendants of those who have passed away can apply. The deadline to submit claims is December 31, 2027, and the program will officially end in 2028. Free help is available to file claims.
More information and eligibility can be found here.
Medscape covered the expansion and UPHE’s co-founder and president’s personal story. Dr. Moench’s father, a physician, “banned milk from the table for months at a time because strontium-90 could settle on cow pastures and contaminate dairy products. He told his eight children to take iodine pills to protect their thyroid glands from radioactive iodine. And he required them to wear rubber boots when they played on grass after it rained in the days following nuclear tests.
Now, five of the physician’s eight children have had cancer, including Brian Moench, MD, who grew up to be an anesthesiologist and is now in his 70s. Two of Moench’s own children have had cancer too, both at unusually young ages.”
“Two of his sisters, who had breast cancer, will be eligible for compensation since the disease is covered. An older brother who had cancer of the small intestine is also eligible.
In the big picture, however, “the money that’s been paid out is a fraction of what should have been paid out. It doesn’t compensate for the deaths that have been caused, for the misery and the suffering.”
And, he said, the program doesn’t cover much of the US that was exposed to radiation from the nuclear tests of the 1940s, 1950s, and 1960s.”