Veterans of 2 Atomic Sites Show Higher Cancer Rates

Soldiers and sailors exposed to radiation at two U.S. atomic test sites in the 1950s are showing higher-than-normal death rates from certain cancers, the National Research Council reported today.

However, authors of the council’s study also said the excess deaths “may well have resulted from chance” since no similar results are being found at other test sites.

“When the data from all the tests are considered, there is no consistent or statistically significant evidence for an increase in leukemia or other malignant disease in nuclear test participants,” the government-sponsored study concluded.

Excess Leukemia

The project, studying death certificates of 46,000 witnesses at five separate nuclear test series, confirmed the findings of a 1980 Centers for Disease Control study that said there was an excess incidence of leukemia among veterans who had participated at test shot “Smoky” at the Nevada Test Site in 1957.

And it also said there appeared to be a slightly higher-than-normal incidence of prostate cancer among witnesses to blasts in the “Redwing” test series on Pacific atolls in 1956--a result the authors seemed to discount “since prostate cancer has never been demonstrated to be one especially susceptible to induction by radiation.”

They also said the “Smoky” results must be considered in the context of the broader findings of no excess leukemia among witnesses at the four other test series in Nevada and the Pacific--or at other blasts in the same series as the “Smoky” shot.

Disputes Over Responsibility

The subject has led to disputes between veterans and the government over possible federal responsibility for cancers now developing among participants in above-ground tests in the 1950s.

Gloria Christopher, executive director of the National Assn. of Atomic Veterans, dismissed the new study as “garbage . . . ridiculous.”

Chief among her complaints was the fact that the study compares health problems of the atomic veterans with those of men in the general population rather than with 1950s veterans who weren’t exposed to radiation.