Tag Archives: nuclear

Will Veterans Tested On Like Lincoln Receive Help from US Government

Nuclear Weapons Use at Bikini

 

F. Lincoln Grahlfs is now 101 years old and the oldest Atomic Veteran remaining who was subject to nuclear weapons testing. For some reason, the Congress is so far not continuing the Radiation Exposure Compensation Act.  Will they ignore the harm done or is it grandstanding?  

After being tested on with nuclear weapons, some doctors thought X-rays might help those who were getting sick. Navy sailor, F. Lincoln Grahlfs:

“He said: “We call that the hair of the dog that bit you.” …I am affected by this thing as far as I am concerned LIFETIME because it’s in my blood.”

NPR: ‘Atomic veterans’ battle with Congress for benefits

HEARD ON ALL THINGS CONSIDERED

 

LISTEN IN: Military servicemembers who took part in the country’s nuclear testing program are on the verge of losing federal benefits 

 

 

“The United States Radiation Exposure Compensation Act (RECA) is a federal statute implemented in 1990, set to expire in July 2024, providing for the monetary compensation of people, including atomic veterans, who contracted cancer and a number of other specified diseases as a direct result of their exposure to atmospheric nuclear testing undertaken by the United States during the Cold War as residents, or their exposure to radon gas and other radioactive isotopes while undertaking uranium mining, milling or the transportation of ore…”

Radiation Exposure Compensation Act – Wikipedia

 

 

  1. Voices from Ground Zero: Recollections and Feelings of Nuclear Test Veterans – F. Lincoln Grahlfs – Google Books
  2. US Senate votes to expand radiation-exposure compensation, from Guam to original A-bomb test site | AP News
  3. Veterans and Nuclear Radiation Exposure | C-SPAN.org
  4. Veterans of US atomic age deserve compensation (militarytimes.com)
  5. ‘You can’t live with them’: Madison WWII vet exposed to atomic testing warns about nuclear weapons
  6. Civil Division | Radiation Exposure Compensation Act (justice.gov)
  7. Classified US nuclear test films saved for posterity (newatlas.com)

 

May 2024      Arms Control Association
By Chris Rostampour

“Communities adversely affected by U.S. nuclear testing and weapons production activities in the early years of the nuclear age and their congressional representatives are urging the House of Representatives to reauthorize and expand an expiring federal program that compensates victims of nuclear radiation.”
U.S. House Under Pressure to Renew Aid for ‘Downwinders’

 

Please support and follow:

No Nukes ~ Back from the Brink ~ Take Action Madison Wisconsin

The Madison Back from the Brink Resolution (Resolution #79719) will be voted on by the  Madison City Council on Tuesday night, 10/3/23 at 6:30 pm

Back from Brink Resolutions call on our federal government to:

• Actively pursue a verifiable agreement among nuclear-armed states to eliminate their
nuclear arsenals. (Download more information)

• Renounce the option of using nuclear weapons first. (Download more information)

• End the president’s sole, unchecked authority to launch a nuclear attack. (Download more information)

• Take U.S. nuclear weapons off hair-trigger (launch ready) alert. (Download more information)

• Cancel the plan to replace the entire U.S. arsenal with enhanced weapons. (Download more information)

Contact Alders by 10/3/2023 

• Email or call your Common Council member. Ask them to vote in support of Resolution #79719

If you are not sure who your alderperson is, you can do one of the following:
o Find Alder by Address
o Find Alder by Map

• Email the entire Common Council using the online contact form.

• Call the Common Council Office at (608) 266-4071 to leave a message for the entire
Common Council.

Letter template for Alder contact 

Background

Register Your Support on 10/2/23-10/3/23
1. Go to www.cityofmadison.com/MeetingRegistration.
2. Select under Meeting: City Council 10/3/23 6:30 pm. Agenda Item is Resolution
#79719.
3. Register your support. You do not need to speak. List your contact info and register.

Read the Mayor of Madison’s recent post about
divesting from nuclear weapons.

This information from Physicians for Social Responsibility

source document 2023-9-27 Action alert 3b____ (1)

Vigil for Peace Wisconsin Capitol Square Sun Oct 1 at 7pm

October1_Vigil_invite  <— link to PDF flyer

 

The Interfaith Peace Working Group*
invites you to a
Vigil for Peace in Ukraine and the World
October 1 at 7:00 – 8:00 pm
Capitol Square – State Street Steps

In the spirit of building a worldwide peace community,
we invite you to bring a short poem, prayer, or blessing for peace –
but from a religious or secular tradition that is not your own.

In addition, there will be music, singing, and silence in this
ritual of commemoration, grief, and hope.

 

*In partnership with Code Pink, World Beyond War, Veterans for Peace and the Wisconsin Network for Peace and Justice

 

Ban Nuclear Weapons ~ Madison Alder Contact ~ #BackFromTheBrink

Contact city alders and be sure they have all of the following information and links.

Dear Alder:

We/I write to ask you to support a City of Madison Back from the Brink (BftB) Resolution. It calls on the federal government to honor the Nonproliferation Treaty of 1970 (NPT), embrace the United Nations Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons (TPNW) of 2021 and take the following steps to reduce the risk of nuclear war:

Madison, Wisconsin declared itself a nuclear free zone in a 1983 ordinance and passed a proclamation in 2019 commemorating August 6th as Hiroshima Day and August 9th as Nagasaki Day. The 2019 proclamation also called on the US to live up to its obligations under the 1970 Non-Proliferation Treaty and cancel the nuclear weapons modernization program.

We are asking for the City to make a financial commitment that aligns with its history of advocacy for nuclear disarmament. The Madison Back from the Brink Resolution includes a pledge by the City to end investments in and contracts with companies involved in nuclear weapons production such as those listed in the 2022 Don’t Bank on the Bomb “Hall of Shame”.  We look forward to developing a workable plan with City of Madison staff.

Over sixty-five US cities have passed the Back from the Brink Resolution.

Fifteen US cities have so far passed resolutions committing themselves to nuclear weapon free investments and/or contracts.

 

For additional information, see links below:

-12/2022 Background on Back from the Brink.

– Summary of Divestment Information

 – PSR Wisconsin Back from the Brink web page

 

We are eagerly awaiting your support of this Resolution.

 

Sincerely,

 

Back from the Brink resolution Co-sponsors:

  • 350 Madison,
  • Dane County Chapter of United Nations Association,
  • First Unitarian Society Social Justice Ministry,
  • Four Lakes Green Party, 
  • Friends Meeting of Madison,
  • Interfaith Peace Working Group
  • Madison Mennonite Church,
  • Physicians for Social Responsibility – Wisconsin,
  • Prairie Unitarian Universalist Society Social Action Committee,
  • Progressive Dane,
  • Raging Grannies of Madison/Dane County, 
  • Reverend Franz Rigert, Conference Minister of General Synod of United Church of Christ (UCC passed the resolution at the General Synod in June 2019),
  • Veterans for Peace – Chapter 25,
  • Wisconsin Network for Peace & Justice
  • Women’s International League for Peace and Freedom and
  • World BEYOND War