St. George • A federal program to compensate nuclear fallout victims may be expired, but a St. George clinic tasked with helping them and conducting cancer screenings remains open for business.
The Radiation Exposure Compensation Act, a program to compensate victims of radioactive fallout from nuclear weapons testing during the Cold War, expired June 7.
Efforts to revive the program are currently stuck in the U.S. House of Representatives due to concerns by House Speaker Mike Johnson and members of Utah’s congressional delegation over its $50 billion price tag and debate over whether to expand RECA to cover areas previously excluded by the program.
Despite the political impasse, Intermountain Health’s Radiation Exposure Screening Clinic at St. George Regional Hospital remains open to assist downwinders — the term given to people exposed to radiation from nuclear weapons testing — get answers about how radioactive fallout may have impacted them and their families, and to conduct free cancer screenings.
“The Department of Justice cannot accept RECA applications at this time due to the expiration of the program,” Becky Barlow, project director at the St. George clinic, said in a news release. “But anyone who thinks that they would have qualified for the program if it was still active is welcome to call me to discuss what they could be doing while we wait for the bill to start again.”
Prepping for possible RECA revival
In the event RECA is reauthorized in some form, Barlow and others at the clinic want potential applicants to be ready. That’s why they are sending packets to downwinders and their families to acquaint them with what information they will need to have on hand to apply should the program be revived.
“Instead of giving them an application now and doing the legwork later,” Barlow told The Salt Lake Tribune, “I’m having them do the legwork now and then hold onto the information so that as soon as the applications become available again, they are ready to fill them out and submit the documentation without losing a lot of time.”
Intermountain Health’s clinic is funded with a public service grant administered through the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. In addition to advising fallout victims on RECA and related matters, the clinic also provides free physicals and cancer screenings to people exposed to radiation from nuclear testing.
Requirements for the physicals and screenings are the same as imposed under RECA. Eligibility is limited to residents who lived in Utah’s Beaver, Garfield, Iron, Kane, Millard, Piute, San Juan, Sevier, Washington and Wayne counties from 1951 to 1958, or July 1962, when several powerful atomic bombs were detonated in Nevada.
Cancers that previously qualified under RECA include leukemia (but not chronic lymphocytic leukemia), multiple myeloma, lymphomas (other than Hodgkin’s), and primary cancers of the pharynx, small intestine, salivary gland, brain, stomach, urinary tract/bladder, colon, thyroid, pancreas, breast, esophagus, bile ducts, liver, gallbladder, lung, and ovary. Barlow said it is too early to tell which cancers will be included in the law if it is reinstated.
“We teach [people] what to look for because of their radiation exposure and family history and go from there,” she said. “If we find a [problem], we can follow up with them, order a test and send them back to their primary care physician.”
For more information or to schedule an appointment, people are encouraged to call the clinic at 435-251-4760.