Responsibility Lies With Danger Source

“Drink your milk,” American mothers chorused during the 1940s and ‘50s. “You’ll grow up to be big and strong.”

Unfortunately, for children living near the Hanford Nuclear Reservation between 1945 and 1951, those motherly words weren’t always true. An estimated 14,000 of these children drank dangerous levels of radiation with their daily milk. They ingested a minimum of 10 rads, a dose roughly equivalent to 25 mammograms.

Today, those children are around 50 years old. They’ve scattered across the country. And they’re living with a risk of thyroid cancer that’s 20 to 50 percent higher than for the rest of the population.

Inside them, an invisible clock ticks away.

When thyroid cancer is treated early, it’s rarely fatal. For those exposed to radiation, the disease can take decades to develop.

When it goes undetected, as it did in Perry Thompson, a 79-year-old Hanford nuclear engineer, it can spread to the lungs and the brain. If Thompson had been screened earlier, he still might be alive today.

The U.S. Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry is poised to start a program to locate and screen those 14,000 children who grew up near Hanford. It would detect various thyroid diseases, including cancer, and cost $12.9 million to launch. The U.S. Department of Energy has told Hanford to take the money from its cleanup budget. But Hanford’s citizen advisory board has refused.

Meanwhile, for 14,000 children-turned-adults, internal clocks keep ticking.

Thompson’s daughter, Trisha Pritikin, was one of those children. She suffers from hypothyroidism. She filed a lawsuit this spring asking the federal Department of Energy to start this screening program.

Since 1991, Hanford has spent $54.2 million fighting downwinder lawsuits. This could be another costly case.

Critics believe the DOE is stalling because a Hanford screening program could set a precedent for other regions. Victims may also seek payment for treatment and damages.

Those unanswered questions do not justify this delay. Time ticks by, and as the children of the region downwind of the Hanford Nuclear Reservation age, the risk they face grows.

Last week, Sen. Patty Murray issued a statement supporting the screening program and promising to arrange funding. Rep. George Nethercutt also endorsed the screening.

Mothers of the 1950s had a few other adages, as well.

If you hurt someone, say you’re sorry.

If you make a mess, clean it up.

It’s time the Department of Energy followed their advice.