"FORGOTTEN FALLOUT": Introduction

The recent release of summary of the National Cancer Institute's (NCI) 14-year long report of nationwide fallout from the 1950's Nevada atomic bomb tests has set off a fire storm of public concern, outrage, and anger. To many it marks the first time they have had to deal with the implications of nuclear testing in their personal lives. It also marks the worst public relations disaster for U.S. public health agencies since fallout was first "discovered" following the 1954 Bravo test at the Nevada Test Site. Suddenly everyone in America, from coast to coast, has to deal with the fact that they were personally exposed to radioactive fallout, with admitted risks to their personal health.This time, it wasn't just a small group of Americans close to the test site, or close to some nuclear weapons facility. It was everybody! And this time the media has not followed the the government's party line that "fallout is harmless, and there is no danger."

"We must know how we got to this point,and how it happened that our entire nation was exposed to radioactive fallout without our consent or knowledge. We must know how the government officials involved hid the relevant facts from us. Most importantly,for the sake of ourselves and our children,we must insure that this national disaster,inflicted upon us all by our own government, can never happen again!"

The forced release of the National Cancer Institute's report (after the media obtained "leaked" sections of it) is tremendously important to all Americans. It is vital that the American public, and their elected representatives, have the additional information needed to put the report in proper context. The public must understand the historical perspective of the testing period itself, and, most importantly, to know the lengths to which government agencies conducting the tests went to cover up the extent of fallout, and its dangers to the health of the American public.

To assist in providing the American public with the additional information needed to fully evaluate the NCI report, Downwinders will be publishing an ongoing series of articles titled "FORGOTTEN FALLOUT." The series will not only cover examples of specific areas of the United States, Canada, and Mexico which were hit with high fallout levels, but will also discuss the response of the government and its agencies at the time.

We will also provide profiles on the scientists and medical personnel who bravely raised the spectre of alarm at the time, and whose lives and careers were destroyed as the Atomic Energy Commission and others who tried to maintain the ruse that "fallout is harmless." The coverup and disinformation campaign continues today with the long delayed NCI report.

Along with the series Downwinders will also be providing links to other sites where relevant historical information on the testing period and the fallout controversy can be found. The purpose of this series will not be to argue or debate the potential health effects of fallout, or to estimate specific risks, but to help establish a clear historical record of nuclear weapons testing, and the government's efforts to conceal its public health hazards. We must know how we got to this point, and how it happened that our entire nation was exposed to radioactive fallout without our consent or knowledge. We must know how the government officials involved hid the relevant facts from us. Most importantly, for the sake of ourselves and our children, we must insure that this national disaster, inflicted upon us all by our own government, can never happen again!

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"FORGOTTEN FALLOUT" -- THE STORY BEHIND THE HEADLINES Please check out the first installment of our new series: "THE COMING COVER-UP OF THE NCI REPORT! "

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