Editorial: Congress deserves some answers fast
September 18, 1998
IT is unbelievable that the results of a study that
examined the health effects of radiation fallout from atomic test explosions
in Nevada during the early years of the Cold War were delayed at all. The
fact that the findings of this report were delayed for 15 years is unconscionable.
The scientist who directed the study, which found
that exposure to the fallout may have caused 11,300 to 212,000 additional
cases of cancer, told Congress on Wednesday he's sorry for the delay. ``The
sense was that nobody was terribly interested in this,'' Bruce Wachholz,
chief of the radiation effects branch of the National Cancer Institute,
said.
What nonsense. If you didn't know any better you'd
think Wachholz was living on another planet. No one believes the public
was blase about the health effects of these above-ground tests. There has
been intense interest for decades about any potential harmful effects from
these tests.
Despite Wachholz's assertion that there was ``no
intention to deceive or conceal this information,'' another disturbing
view surfaced at the Senate Governmental Affairs Committee hearing. Owen
Hoffman, a consultant on the research, said that concerns within the National
Cancer Institute -- about the negative impact that the study might have
on public opinion -- played a role in preventing the publication of the
study, which tracked the nationwide fallout from 100 above-ground nuclear
explosions at the Nevada Test Site.
Also astounding is how the report even became public.
After Richard Klausner became director of the National Cancer Institute
in 1995, he found out about the report only because of an inquiry by Sen.
Tom Daschle, D-S.D.
``Somewhere, obviously, this fell through the cracks,''
Sen. John Glenn, D-Ohio, said. ``We shouldn't have to heckle people to
get a report.''
It is especially troubling that a scientific organization
would hide the truth from the American people. Congress should conduct
an investigation and demand immediate answers as to why the results of
this important study were delayed. |
