By Sharon Franklin.
Reporters have found an increased cancer risk for some people who, as children, played in a creek contaminated with uranium waste. This has caused a grade school to close amid radiation concerns. A landfill operator is spending millions to keep underground smoldering from reaching nuclear waste illegally dumped in the 1970s, according to documents reviewed by The Associated Press. Both the federal government and companies responsible for nuclear bomb production and atomic waste storage sites in the St. Louis. Missouri area in the mid-20th century were aware of health effects that haunt this region.
Recent articles published by the Associated Press AP “How America’s push for the atomic bomb spawned enduring radioactive waste problems in St. Louis” and Environmental Health News “A Forgotten Chapter: Downwinders Fight For Recognition and Justice” highlights the risks, about spills, improperly stored contaminants and other problems that have been often ignored by both the federal government and the polluting companies.
The government cleanup is complete, but the site is considered permanently damaged and will require oversight into perpetuity. Rather than remove the waste, the government built a 75-foot-tall mound, covered in rock, to serve as a permanent disposal cell for much of the waste. The government said the site is safe, but local residents remain worried, because they live near contamination sites and the uncertainty, because many grew up in the area and weren’t told about the risks for decades. People in the St. Louis area remain concerned that more illnesses are caused by the contamination and some are pushing for legislation to compensate those who are sick.
Photo Credit: (AP Photo/Jeff Roberson)
Citizen Activists Dawn Chapman and Karen Nickel were so concerned about cancer and other unusual illnesses in their St. Louis County neighborhoods formed Just Moms STL. Dawn Chapman of the activist group stated they are pushing for cleanup and federal buyouts in an area near the airport. She said the region “saved our country” with its work on the nuclear program but paid a terrible cost.” “We are a national sacrifice zone”.