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Matheson acts on fallout study

Lawmaker calls for 'roadblocks in way of any new testing'

By Joe Bauman
Deseret Morning News
The more scientists look into the effects of fallout from nuclear
weapons tests, the more damage they discover, says Rep. Jim Matheson.
The Utah Democrat was responding to a study by the University of
Utah
researcher Dr. Joseph Lyon and colleagues, which was reported in
Wednesday's
edition of the Deseret Morning News. A re-evaluation study by 15
experts headed
by Lyon, to be published in the journal Epidemiology on Nov. 1, shows
that
more than twice as many downwind residents as originally believed
suffered damage
to the thyroid gland from fallout.
"Dr. Joseph Lyon and his associates have spent 40 years
researching
danger to those who were 'downwind' of nuclear testing in Nevada,"
Matheson said
in a press release. "The more we look, the more damage we uncover from
this
era, even as the federal government was telling us it was safe."
Lyon's early studies helped convince Matheson's late father, the
former
Utah Gov. Scott M. Matheson, that he should demand the release of
classified
data about the nuclear tests, says the release. "Gov. Matheson died
from a
radiation exposure-related illness at age 61," it adds.
The congressman is quoted as saying the data prove that even
underground nuclear tests are unsafe.
"I have long opposed any effort to resume nuclear weapons testing
in
Nevada," he added. "My legislation — Safety for Americans from
nuclear Weapons
Testing — establishes significant roadblocks in the way of any new
testing."
The legislation requires Congress to authorize any nuclear
weapons test
and establishes the National Center for the Study of Radiation and
Human
Health, he said.
The center is a consortium of universities that will study health
effects of radiation exposure and illnesses that are linked to
radiation.
Lyon's study is called "Thyroid Disease Associated With Exposure
to the
Nevada nuclear Weapons Test Site Radiation: A Re-evaluation Based on
Corrected Dosimetry and Examination Data."
The journal "Epidemiology" placed an abstract online. To read it,
go to
the scientific journal's main Web site,
www.epidem.com/pt/re/epidemiology/paptoc.htm and then click on the box
labeled "Epi Fast-Track."