Unknowing, unwilling, and uncompensated victims of the Cold War
Tina Cordova and Laura Greenwood of the Tularosa Basin Downwinders Consortium
RECA is a bipartisan program established in 1990 that provides partial restitution for the devastating health impacts of radiation exposure from U.S. nuclear weapons testing and production. The U.S. government bears responsibility for the downwinders, uranium workers, and atomic veterans whose lives and health were sacrificed for our national security.
Though RECA has been temporarily extended until 2024, it is still highly flawed, and many exposed communities have never been eligible for coverage. Victims have watched countless loved ones pass away while fighting to be included in RECA, and many still desperately need this support.
Congress must swiftly pass HR 5338 and S 2798, the Radiation Exposure Compensation Act Amendments.
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![Mary Dickson]()
Mary Dickson
“We were patriotic Americans who believed our government when it assured us, “there is no danger.” Our government not only lied to us for decades, but considered us expendable. We have paid and continue to pay an enormous price. A government that knowingly harmed its own citizens has a moral responsibility to take care of those harmed.”
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![Uranium Miner]()
Linda Evers
“My daughter was born with defects that could not be repaired with a simple surgery. She had to have 5 surgeries before she was 4 years old to build the hips she was born without. The professional medical people that were responsible for her surgeries and recovery convinced me that over exposure to radiation was the cause of her birth defect and I quit working in uranium that day.”
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![Robert Celestial]()
Robert Celestial
“We were never told the extent of the 66 nuclear detonations… We were all young. We got to the Marshall Islands and it was beautiful.
You can’t see the danger, you can’t smell it, taste it. ... We just did what they told us.”
