September 20, 2005



Burns Pushes for RECA Hearings

Works to Pass Legislation to Compensate Radiation Victims



WASHINGTON-U.S. Sen. Conrad Burns (R-Mont.) this week wrote a letter to Chairman of the Senate Committee on the Judiciary, Arlen Specter, to request he hold hearings on S. 977, the Radiation Exposure Compensation Act Amendments of 2005.  



The impact of radiation exposure in my state is overwhelmingly clear, said Burns.  Rates of thyroid cancer in Montana have increased to frightening levels over the past decades, and victims have been suffering for too long.  If the compensation provided by RECA is important for folks in other states, it is just as important for folks in Montana.



The Radiation Exposure Compensation Act (RECA) was enacted in 1990 to offer payments to civilians who lived in states designated downwind from Nuclear Bomb Tests, and who contracted specific types of cancer, particularly thyroid cancer, years after their exposure to Iodine-131.  A 1997, a study by the National Cancer Institute revealed that Montana is home to 15 counties in the country with the highest Iodine-131 exposure, but affected counties in Montana are not currently eligible for compensation through RECA.  The National Academy of Sciences recently issued a report detailing the fact that Montana is one of the worst affected states by the nuclear testing.  Burns bill would amend RECA to include Montanans who have been afflicted with thyroid and other various cancers related to radiation exposure.  To receive compensation the claimant must have lived downwind of atmospheric nuclear tests in the state of Montana for a period of at least two years during the period beginning on January 21, 1951, and ending on October 31, 1958 and, after the period of physical presence, the claimant contracted one of the specified diseases.



Burns added that between 1989 and 2003, the age-adjusted national rate of thyroid cancer increased by 38 percent, and during that same time, Montana¹s rate increased 127 percent.  It is clear that Montana has been wrongfully neglected, and I look forward to hearings on this issue so we can move forward to enact this amendment and begin to compensate the Montanans who have been affected by this tragedy.

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Jennifer O'Shea
Press Secretary
Office of Senator Conrad Burns
Dirksen 187
Washington, DC 20510

202.224.2644