Speaker's Opposition to Nuclear Weapons Testing Is a Personal Battle
By Paul Schrag
To most people, nuclear weapons testing is ancient history from the Cold War era.
To Toni Gough, the effects of that testing are a present reality and a future
concern.
Her present reality is a battle with acute leukemia, the result of exposure to
fallout from nuclear bomb tests the U.S. government conducted in Nevada between
1951 and 1962.
Her future concern is legislation passed last year that allows nuclear testing
to start again.
"Our government declared war on us," Gough said, speaking at Peace Connections
on April 20 to about 45 people. "It's time to make a decision. Do we want
to do it again? I don't."
Gough, who lives in Newton, knows the tragic impact of exposure to nuclear radiation
sometimes takes decades to appear.
Her case of myelogenous leukemia was diagnosed in 2002, more than 40 years after
she was exposed to nuclear fallout while living in Gila County, Ariz., as a child.
"The doctor said the only possible cause was high levels of radiation exposure,"
she said.
Gough has received $50,000 from the federal government through the Radiation Exposure
Compensation Act. That is the standard amount received by fallout victims who
lived in certain Nevada, Utah and
Arizona counties.
It's small consolation for a life-threatening illness. "For a cancer victim,
$50,00 does very little," she said. Now she's waiting to go to St. Louis
for a stem-cell transplant that could save her life.
She believes it's unjust that the only fallout victims eligible for federal compensation
are the ones who lived in parts of three states.
Nuclear fallout affected the entire country, she said. Many counties got higher
levels of radiation than ones chosen for compensation.
"Every single Kansas county has higher fallout than some of the areas being
compensated," she said.
Gila County, Ariz., where she lived, got 0.2 of a radiation absorbtion dose, known
as a RAD. Kansas' highest level is 8.11 RADs in Russell County, and the lowest
is 4.3 in Sherman County. Harvey County got 6.6 RADs.
"Cancers are still emerging linked to fallout of 50 years ago," she
said. More than 85,000 cases of cancer are linked to radioactive fallout.
Gough is on a mission to educate people about the nuclear testing's long-term
impact.
More than 1,000 atmospheric and underground nuclear bombs were exploded in the
United States between 1951 and 1962. Of the 839 underground tests, 54 percent
leaked radiation beyond the Nevada Test Site and traveled east across the United
States, dropping dangerous heavy elements that are still causing illness and death.
Some of
these elements remain dangerous for more than 300 years.
Nuclear clouds that reached the stratosphere, the products of long-ago tests,
are still dropping radioactive fallout worldwide.
Given these facts, Gough passionately opposes the proposed restart of nuclear
testing.
Last year Congress passed HR-2754, which allows lifting the ban on nuclear testing.
The Bush administration's proposed budget, to be voted on by Congress this summer,
includes $27.6 million for development of the Robust Nuclear Earth Penetrator,
a so-called "bunker buster," and $9 million
for the development of "mini-nukes." Congress has approved $30 million
to refurbish the Nevada Test Site, enabling nuclear testing to resume.
Gough supports HR-3921, the Safety for Americans from Nuclear Testing Act, which
would require a full environmental impact study before nuclear testing could restart.
"We need a bill that says absolutely no more nuclear testing," she said.
For the sake of future generations, Gough is speaking out against new nuclear
weapons funding.
"We don't need to have more of me," she said. "We don't need more
cancer victims."
Gough is starting a Kansas chapter of Downwinders, a group that advocates for
victims of nuclear fallout and monitors legislation.
Interested people can contact her at jtgough@sbcglobal.net.
