“If you drink much from a bottle marked 'poison' it is certain to disagree with you
sooner or later.” ― Lewis Carroll, Alice in Wonderland

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When I tell the story of why I was put on Birth Control Pills in 1967 at age 11, and that is was "more than strongly recommended" by a respectable team of Military and civillian doctors and surgeons, that at "first sign of blood",
"we control the situation". Most people can't believe it, and
neither did Planned Parenthood - they tried to talk my Mother out of it.
The two photos on the right illustrate clearly, they were right in their assessment for me and my future, and why they stressed the seriousness of the matters why they tried to spell out as clearly as possible to us the potential repercussions. From that day forward, the Chief and I had an unique bond... we were in this together, without my Mom or my brother. This was ours alone, and he could not talk about it... he was still classified.

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Long-Term Health Effects of Ionizing Radiation

Most information about the health effects to humans from ionizing radiation has been obtained by studying Japanese atomic bomb survivors and their offspring. The principal long-term health concern is an increased risk for the development of malignancies. The risk for almost all types of malignancies has been shown to be increased by radiation exposure, although radiation is not as strong a carcinogen as is commonly feared. The risk increases with the radiation dose received and also may be influenced by other factors such as age at exposure and time since exposure. Studies of Japanese survivors’ children conceived after the atomic bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki have not found increases in birth defects or childhood cancers. 

Several epidemiological studies of U.S. atmospheric nuclear weapons test participants have been performed, some of which have found increases in mortality. The VHI module “Veterans and Radiation” provides more information about these studies. No studies specifically limited to Atomic Veterans who participated in research projects are available. Any radiation exposure level might in principle lead to cancer after a latency of years or even decades. In general, it usually is difficult or impossible to determine with certainty if a particular cancer in an individual is the result of a specific radiation exposure incident, although the likelihood often can be estimated based on epidemiological and other relevant data. Thus, according to the National Toxicology Program, the probability that a U.S. citizen will develop cancer in their lifetime is 30 percent to 50 percent. “The probability of developing cancer depends on many things, including the intensity, route, and duration of exposure to a carcinogen or carcinogens. Individuals may respond differently to similar exposures, depending on personal factors such as age, sex, nutritional status, overall health, and inherited characteristics. 

Only in a few instances, where studies of long-term human exposures and cancer incidence in restricted environments are available, can risk be estimated with confidence.” VA Medical Programs for Atomic Veterans Atomic Veterans, including those who participated in research associated with nuclear tests described in Part One of this VHI, are eligible to participate in the VA’s Ionizing Radiation Registry (IRR) Examination program. These veterans have special eligibility for treatment of conditions that the VA recognizes as possibly due to radiation. They also can receive compensation on a “presumptive” basis for 21 types of malignancies. 

Independent Study Course Released: October 2003 Sponsored by Department of Veterans Affairs Employee Education System This is a Veterans Health Administration System-Wide Training Program sponsored by the Veterans Affairs Employee Education System and the Office of Public Health and Environmental Hazards, Department of Veterans Affairs. It is produced by the Employee Education System

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Secret Radiation Experiments

Only recently, with the forced release of Top Secret documents, have details been revealed about the unethical and inhumane radiation studies conducted during the Cold War years from 1944 to 1974. The initial story broke in November 1993 in a series of articles in the Albuquerque Tribune which identified the names of 18 Americans secretly injected with plutonium, a key ingredient of the atomic bomb and one of the most toxic substances known to man. Some, but not all, of the patients were terminally ill. This horrifying story by journalist Eileen Welsome (who later won a Pulitzer Prize) unleashed a storm of nationwide protest prompting Department of Energy Secretary Hazel O’Leary to order the release of secret files and documents pertaining to these Cold War experiments.

The extremely dangerous plutonium experiment was performed under the auspices of the government’s Manhattan Project, which brought together a revered group of distinguished scientists to develop and test the atom bomb. The purpose of these secret experiments was to establish occupational standards for workers who would be producing plutonium and other radioactive ingredients for the nuclear energy industry.

Some of the classified government experiments included:
* Exposing more than 100 Alaskan villagers to radioactive iodine during the 1960s.
* Feeding 49 retarded and institutionalised teenagers radioactive iron and calcium in their cereal during the
    years 1946-1954.
* Exposing about 800 pregnant women in the late 1940s to radioactive iron to determine the effect on the fetus.
* Injecting 7 newborns (six were Black) with radioactive iodine.
* Exposing the testicles of more than 100 prisoners to cancer-causing doses of radiation.
   This experimentation continued into the early 1970s.
* Exposing almost 200 cancer patients to high levels of radiation from cesium and cobalt. 
    The AEC finally stopped this experiment in 1974.
* Administering radioactive material to psychiatric patients in San Francisco and to prisoners in San Quentin.
* Administering massive doses of full body radiation to cancer patients hospitalised at the General Hospital in 
   Cincinnati, Baylor College in Houston, Memorial Sloan-Kettering in New York City, and the US Naval Hospital in 
   Bethesda, during the 1950s and 1960s. The experiment provided data to the military concerning how a nuclear 
   attack might affect its troops.
* Exposing 29 patients, some with rheumatoid arthritis, to total body irradiation (100-300 rad dose) to obtain data
    for the military. This was conducted at the University of California Hospital in San Francisco.

The Atomic Energy Commission
In 1995 the Energy Department admitted to over 430 radiation experiments conducted by the Atomic Energy Commission between the years 1944 and 1974. Over 16,000 people were radiated, some of whom did not know the health risks or did not give consent.

These experiments were designed to help atomic scientists understand the human hazards of nuclear war and radiation fallout. Because the entire nuclear arms buildup was classified secret, these experiments were all stamped secret and allowed to take place under the banner of protecting “national security.”

Amazingly, these clandestine studies were conducted at the most prestigious medical institutions and colleges, including the University of Chicago, the University of Washington, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Vanderbilt University in Nashville, and the previously mentioned universities.

The Presidents's Advisory Committee 
What is clear from studying the Committee’s Final Report is that the medical and scientific professions collaborated with the government and the military to abuse and harm US citizens.  In the process, the nuclear establishment literally got away with murder.  And there is simply no end to the secrets that still emerge from the Cold War years that began 58 years ago with the Manhattan Project.

In January 2000, the government presented the results of a statistical study showing that atomic workers employed in the nuclear weapons industry during the Cold War were more likely to suffer a higher rate of cancer, due to their exposure to cancer-causing radiation and chemicals.

From the 1940's up to the present time, government lawyers and scientists have repeatedly rejected the claims of workers who became sick as result of nuclear radiation and exposure to deadly uranium, plutonium, and fluorine.  

As many as 600,000 workers in 14 nuclear weapons plants are now affected by the government’s final admission of wrongdoing in exposing these people to cancer and other chronic illnesses.

According to a Los Angeles Times report, “workers told of spending years trying to get compensation payments from the state, of having to hire attorneys to get disability pay, of going to clinics that forced them to sign away rights to a portion of any future disability payment before they could be treated.”

Kay Sutherland, a worker at the Hanford plutonium plant in central Washington State, told a hearing that “the people in this area have been forced into poverty because they’ve had to retire in their 30's, 40's, and 50's, too young to get a retirement, and too young to get Social Security. They fall through the cracks and they die.”  Sutherland has lost four of her five family members to disease, and has an enlarged liver and multiple tumours.
She considers herself “a Holocaust survivor for the American Cold War.”

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Blood Disorder due to Radiation Exposure

Disorder due to exposure to ionizing radiation (SCT 85983004) 

Disorder caused by exposure to ionizing radiation (disorder) {85983004 , SNOMED-CT } 
Parent/Child (Relationship Type) 

Acute radiation disease (disorder) {360002 , SNOMED-CT }
Adverse effect of radiation therapy (disorder) {20558004 , SNOMED-CT }
Aplastic anemia caused by radiation (disorder) {191247005 , SNOMED-CT }
Azoospermia caused by radiation (disorder) {366981000119102 , SNOMED-CT } 
Chondroradionecrosis of larynx (disorder) {473439008 , SNOMED-CT }
​Encephalopathy caused by radiation damage (disorder) {230360009 , SNOMED-CT }
Enteritis caused by radiation (disorder) 
{73817000 , SNOMED-CT } Fetus with radiation damage (disorder) {199553006 , SNOMED-CT } 
Fibrosis of lung following radiation (disorder) {71193007 , SNOMED-CT } Heart disease caused by 
ionizing radiation (disorder) {430401005 , SNOMED-CT } Injury caused by exposure to ionizing 
radiation (disorder) {24803000 , SNOMED-CT } Irradiation cystitis (disorder) {11251000 , SNOMEDCT } Irradiation hypothyroidism (disorder) {190277005 , SNOMED-CT } Late effect of radiation 
(disorder) {78523004 , SNOMED-CT } Lymphedema caused by radiation (disorder) {439128001 , 
SNOMED-CT } Mediastinal radiation fibrosis (disorder) {233727009 , SNOMED-CT } Neuropathy 
caused by ionizing radiation (disorder) {445339002 , SNOMED-CT } Neutropenia caused by 
irradiation (disorder) {267540007 , SNOMED-CT } Oral ulceration due to radiation burn (disorder) 
{403448009 , SNOMED-CT } Post-irradiation osteoporosis (disorder) {240164006 , SNOMED-CT } 
Post-irradiation vaginal ulcer (disorder) {237098003 , SNOMED-CT } Postirradiation vaginitis 
(disorder) {14488001 , SNOMED-CT } Postradiation adhesions of vagina (disorder) {47345008 , 
SNOMED-CT } Post-radiation menopause (disorder) {278064001 , SNOMED-CT } Post-radiation 
pericarditis (disorder) {33558009 , SNOMED-CT } Post-radiation stenosis of external auditory canal 
(disorder) {232244003 , SNOMED-CT } Post-radiation stricture of intestine (disorder) {235809001 , 
SNOMED-CT } Radiation alopecia (disorder) {22934003 , SNOMED-CT } Radiation burn (disorder) 
{425656005 , SNOMED-CT } Radiation damage to artery (disorder) {234018007 , SNOMED-CT } 
Radiation damage to brachial plexus (disorder) {297943007 , SNOMED-CT } Radiation damage to 
optic nerve (disorder) {230514006 , SNOMED-CT } Radiation dermatitis (disorder) {49084001 , 
SNOMED-CT } Radiation esophagitis (disorder) {235605005 , SNOMED-CT } Radiation gastritis 
(disorder) {197012004 , SNOMED-CT } Radiation hepatitis (disorder) {53476006 , SNOMED-CT } 
Radiation induced taste impairment (disorder) {699656000 , SNOMED-CT } Radiation injury of eyelid 
(disorder) {231820005 , SNOMED-CT } Radiation kyphosis (disorder) {203630007 , SNOMED-CT } 
Radiation middle ear effusion (disorder) {262761008 , SNOMED-CT } Radiation nephritis (disorder) 
{7725007 , SNOMED-CT } Radiation pneumonitis (disorder) {84004001 , SNOMED-CT } Radiation 
recall syndrome (disorder) {14836003 , SNOMED-CT } Radiation respiratory disease (disorder) 
{286964001 , SNOMED-CT } Radiation retinopathy (disorder) {95221007 , SNOMED-CT } Radiation 
sickness (disorder) {370402009 , SNOMED-CT } Radiation stomatitis (disorder) {31783001 , 
SNOMED-CT } Radiation stricture of vein (disorder) {234068004 , SNOMED-CT } Radiation 
thrombocytopenia (disorder) {371074009 , SNOMED-CT } Radiation thrombophlebitis (disorder) 
{234047000 , SNOMED-CT } Radiation ulcer of esophagus (disorder) {235613006 , SNOMED-CT } 
Radiational injury of sclera (disorder) {231885002 , SNOMED-CT } Radiational injury to conjunctiva 
(disorder) {231868004 , SNOMED-CT } Radiation-induced dermatosis (disorder) {403731002 , 
SNOMED-CT } Radiation-induced keratosis (disorder) {403728003 , SNOMED-CT } Radiationinduced myelopathy (disorder) {26037005 , SNOMED-CT }
Radiation-induced skin malignancy 
(disorder) {403729006 , SNOMED-CT }
​Radiation-induced stricture of esophagus (disorder) 
   {235620004 , SNOMED-CT }
Radiation-induced xerostomia (disorder) {403730001 , SNOMED-CT }
Radionecrosis of skin (disorder) {289998006 , SNOMED-CT }
Scoliosis caused by radiation (disorder) {47518006 , SNOMED-CT }
Subacute radiation sickness (disorder) {32215002 , SNOMED-CT }

G.I.O.'s
Genetically
Impaired Offspring

This is a birth defect in a radiogenicly impacted offspring of one of the test survivors of the Marshalll Islands, Utrik Atoll.

The fear of this happening to a child I might create lead my parents and military doctors
to limit my ability to reproduce at first sight or the possibility
I could produce an offspring.
This photo: One among several grandchildren of test survivors born 
on the island of Utrik who were born badly deformed.  Most died within weeks.  

Utrik Atoll 2010

Utrik pig: 1 head, 2 bodies
An Utrik Atoll official provided this photo of a two-bodied, one-headed pig reportedly born recently on Utrik. The Journal source said the pig lived for few hours after birth and then died. Prior to giving birth, the piglet’s mother roamed and fed freely around Utrik, which is one of the four atolls the US government acknowledges as nuclear test-affected. This is said to be the first of its kind seen anywhere in the Marshall Islands.

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Additional VHI Information

The VHI “Veterans and Radiation” may be obtained from the VAMC library or accessed from the Internet at http://www.va.gov/vhi

The VHI also provides further information on compensation eligibility rules and presumptive service-connection for veterans exposed
to radiation. 

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The presumptive malignancies include: 

  1. Cancer of the bile ducts 
  2. Cancer of the bone 
  3. Cancer of the brain 
  4. Cancer of the breast 
  5. Cancer of the colon 
  6. Cancer of the esophagus 
  7. Cancer of the gall bladder 
  8. Cancer of the small intestine 
  9. All forms of leukemia
      except chronic lymphocytic
      leukemia 10. Primary liver cancer
11. Cancer of the lung 
12. Lymphomas
       (except Hodgkin’s disease)
13. Multiple myeloma 
14. Cancer of the ovary 
15. Cancer of the pancreas 
16. Cancer of the pharynx 
17. Cancer of the salivary gland 
18. Cancer of the stomach 
19. Cancer of the thyroid 
20. Cancer of the urinary tract
       (kidneys, renal pelvis, ureter,
       urinary bladder and urethra) 
21. Bronchio-alveolar carcinoma
       (a rare lung cancer) 

Atomic Vets & Offspring Medical Awareness Document

I know very personally, the real need for this document for many of us was yesterday,  Atomic Veteran's and their offspring have known and specific risks for certain conditions and diseases.  We need a concise document for healthcare providers for insertion into all medical charts for consideration and continuity of care. It will raise our doctors awareness at times of diagnosis and may impact treatment options and address markers otherwise overlooked. 
If you wish to contribute to the draft and creation of this type of document, please reach out to the contact information in the footer.  We are basing it on a similar document recently adopted by 2nd Generation Agent Orange victims.  Some talent is coming forth to make this a productive effort.  
Development began - Aug 2015.  
For more information >