[CPEO-MEF] Hanford (WA) lawsuit

[Lenny Siegel <lsiegel@cpeo.org>]

Cases Against Nuclear Plant Finally Heard

After 15 years of delays, 2,300 plaintiffs who say radioactive releases
at the Hanford site made them seriously ill wait for a jury's decision.

By Tomas Alex Tizon
Los Angeles Times 
May 16, 2005

FAIRFIELD, Wash. - It all began for wheat farmer Ralph Hein with a
finger gliding down his neck one cold morning in 1952. The finger, his
doctor's, came upon a lump just below the Adam's apple. The lump was a
malignant tumor on his thyroid.

Later, Hein's wife, Dolores, and three of their four daughters developed
thyroid problems. Then neighbors ? all farming families in this rolling
grass country between Spokane and the Columbia River ? began to fall
ill, and many died.

Emma Crabtree was diagnosed with breast cancer, and she and her husband,
Harley, died of Hodgkin's disease. Their son Gordon survived bladder
cancer. James Hahner died of pancreatic cancer; two of his children died
of brain tumors. Mona Zehm also fell victim to a brain tumor. Down the
road, Ed Brewer succumbed to pancreatic cancer, and his son David
developed leukemia and died at 13.

The Heins counted 15 cases of cancer in their rural neighborhood.

"It seems important for you to realize this is every single house within
this square-mile area," said Dolores Hein in a court deposition.

Nobody knew what to make of the slow devastation until 1986, the year
that the Hanford nuclear reservation, 100 miles southwest of here, was
forced to reveal some of its secrets.

...

For the entire article, see
http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/la-na-hanford16may16,1,6595305.story



-- 


Lenny Siegel
Director, Center for Public Environmental Oversight
c/o PSC, 278-A Hope St., Mountain View, CA 94041
Voice: 650/961-8918 or 650/969-1545
Fax: 650/961-8918
<lsiegel@cpeo.org>
http://www.cpeo.org
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