'Downwinder' presentation is July 22 at Sharlot Hall Museum

Comment: Is this Virginia's future (or North Carolina) if uranium mining and milling is allowed in our lovely state? Demand at all levels of government to ban uranium mining and milling in Virginia!

Thursday, July 16, 2009

Prescott-area residents seeking information about the federal government's Radiation Exposure Screening & Education Program (RESEP) are invited to attend a presentation by North County Health Care of Flagstaff from 9 to 11 a.m. on July 22 at the Sharlot Hall Museum's library and archive room, 115 S. McCormick St., Prescott.

Commonly known as the Downwinder Program, RESEP helps people get government treatment and compensation if they were exposed to nuclear fallout or worked in the uranium mining industry from 1942 through 1971 and were affected medically.

The program awards grants to health care providers in 12 states most affected by the Cold War's nuclear weapons industry, including Arizona. The health-care providers serve radiation-exposed people and help them establish eligibility for the RESEP program. North County Health Care is one of the medical centers that get government money to help people in this program.

Sharlot Hall Museum's archives is one of the sites where claimants can search for proof of residency to file a claim.

The RESEP website advises people who lived near areas where above-ground nuclear tests were conducted from 1951 to 1958 and from June 30 to July 31, 1962, or who worked in the uranium mining industry from 1942 through 1971 to be screened for cancer and other serious health problems that can develop years after exposure.

Individuals diagnosed with specific cancers and chronic diseases that may have resulted from radiation exposure may be eligible for payments of $50,000 to $100,000 from the Radiation Exposure Compensation Program.

The affected counties in Arizona include Apache, Coconino, Gila, a portion of Mohave County north of the Grand Canyon, Navajo and Yavapai.

For more information about the July 22 presentation call Scott Anderson at 445-3122.

For more information about the compensation program visit its Website at www.usdoj.gov/civil/torts/const/reca/about.htm.


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