WASHINGTON - A report to Congress on expanding the eligibility for federal payments to Americans whose illnesses may have been caused by Cold War-era nuclear missile development should be released in March, study leaders say.
   A draft of the $1 million study by the National Research Council's radiation health board will be sent to scientists for peer review next month. It was requested in 2002 by lawmakers from Utah, Nevada and New Mexico who want to know if there's any valid scientific evidence to justify expanding the types of cancers, or the geographic areas of "downwinder" residents, that are now covered by the Radiation Exposure Compensation Act (RECA).
   The project has become a political rallying point for downwinders hailing from areas of the country that are not eligible for the $50,000 RECA payments. They are urging their members of Congress to expand the compensation program to include more people, even as the federal fund regularly struggles with solvency.
   Researchers held two Utah field hearings for the study during the past year, as well as a hearing on the Navajo Nation in May. Although Idaho is not a RECA-eligible state, Idaho's congressional delegation persuaded study leaders to hold another public comment session last month at the Taco Bell Arena in Boise.
   Similar requests for downwinder hearings in other states continue to come in, but "we are not going anywhere," said Isaf Al-Nabulsi, the senior program officer for the Board of Radiation Effects Research, which is preparing the study.
   "Because this is about downwinders, I have heard from people everywhere, from Alaska to Guam," she said. "But we have heard and received the information from the public and experts in this area, so the committee will now make its decisions based on the scientific evidence."
   A draft version of the forthcoming study was completed and reviewed by the committee during a closed-door meeting in Cape Cod in September, almost two months before the Boise public hearing.
   "It's important for the academics to have input from the public, but the final decision will be based upon scientific evidence," said Al-Nabulsi. "It's a very emotional issue and I do understand the public's frustration with wanting to be heard."
   An interim report prepared by the study committee last year indicated there was scant scientific justification for expanding the RECA program.
   "At this time, there is no new physical, biologic or epidemiologic evidence to suggest a need to revise the estimates of risk for radiogenic cancers among populations previously exposed to ionizing radiation," the committee reported in June 2003.
   Besides expansion of RECA eligibility, researchers also are studying whether improvements in medical screening for potential downwinders is needed. Again, the committee's interim report found "no evidence to support the notion that screening for radiogenic diseases in this population will result in measurable health benefit for eligible participants."
   
   
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