Trinity test fallout haunts New Mexico as US expands nuclear plans

[william]

As the U.S. government plans to expand nuclear weapons production in the state, New Mexico remains at the center of a debate over national security and public health.

Gaps in historical data limit what scientists can establish about the full impact of the Trinity fallout. The National Cancer Institute supports the likelihood of additional cancers in the most heavily exposed areas. However, researchers could not find evidence of health effects passed down to children, despite residents describing cancer diagnoses spanning generations.

"We know that we bear the legacy of that bomb in our bodies," said Tina Cordova, an Albuquerque resident whose family once lived near the test site. "We pass that legacy on one generation to another."

"We have multigenerational cancers," Cordova said. "In my own family, I'm the fourth generation to have cancer since 1945. And there's five generations in my family with cancer now. We don't ask if we're going to get cancer. We ask when it's going to be our turn."

Paul Pino, who also lives in Albuquerque and whose family once lived in the Trinity fallout zone, said his mother and older brother died from cancer. The former American history teacher added his sister has survived both thyroid and breast cancer.

"Cancer is slow, so people didn't die like that overnight," Pino said. "The truth came out really slowly. And for me, somebody that was a teacher, it took decades and decades and decades for me to learn the truth."

Myrriah Gómez, a professor at the University of New Mexico and author of "Nuclear Nuevo México," said her grandfather worked as a laborer on the Manhattan Project and later died of cancer.

Developing a stronger nuclear deterrence in the United States means confronting a legacy of distrust among communities in New Mexico still impacted by the fallout from the Trinity test.

"If you have secrecy, that breeds distrust," Willis said. "These people were not moved. They weren't told that this was happening. And that's a trade-off. You’re trading security for trust."

MSN