Two April 1st Peaceful Demonstrations at White Sands Missile Range Entrances to Support Trinity Downwinders

Please join the Tularosa Basin Downwinders Consortium at two White Sands Missile Range entrances during the Trinity Site open house on Saturday, April 1^st to support those who have been negatively affected by radiation exposure from the first atomic test there on July 16, 1945.  The Army opens the Trinity Site twice a year for people from around the world to visit the radioactively contaminated site.  http://www.wsmr.army.mil/PAO/Trinity/Pages/Home.aspx  Beginning at 7:30 am, the Consortium will gather at the Tularosa Gate, located on the Tulie Gate Road, west of the Tularosa High School, for a one-hour peaceful demonstration.  Beginning at 9 am, they will gather at the Stallion Range Station, east of San Antonio on Highway 380, for a three-hour peaceful demonstration.  Please bring your own water, chair, hat, and a poster or sign.

On July 16, 1945, just before dawn, the U.S. government conducted the first test explosion of a plutonium bomb at the Trinity Site.  Without warning, the 40,000 people living in the immediate vicinity were engulfed in a radioactive cloud that continued to rain down radioactive particles for days, weeks and months.  The government packed their bags, turned their backs and walked away.  For 72 years it has taken no responsibility for the health repercussions to the People.

The Consortium will provide information about their new Health Impact Assessment that documents the harm done to the People living downwind of the Trinity Site and their efforts to ensure that the Trinity Downwinders are included in the proposed amendments to the Radiation Exposure Compensation Act (RECA).  In 1990, Congress passed RECA to provide medical care and compensation to those living downwind of the Nevada Test Site, another location used for testing nuclear weapons aboveground.  RECA was amended in 2000.  The Trinity Downwinders have never been included even though over $2 billion has been paid in claims.  https://www.justice.gov/civil/common/reca, https://www.justice.gov/civil/awards-date-03232017

The Consortium has documented the harm in its new Health Impact Assessment, entitled, “Unknowing, Unwilling and Uncompensated:  The Effects of the Trinity Test on New Mexicans and the Potential Benefits of the Radiation Exposure Compensation Act (RECA) Amendment.”  https://www.trinitydownwinders.com/health-impact-assessment

Tina Cordova, a co-founder of the Consortium, said, “Seventy-two years have passed.  Now is the time for the U.S. Government to recognize those who were unknowing, unwilling, uncompensated, innocent participants in the world’s largest science experiment, who have been suffering in silence ever since the bomb was detonated.  Our organization is revealing the rest of the story and the People are being made aware of the complete legacy of Trinity.”

For more information, please contact Tina Cordova at 505-897-6787 or by email to tcordova@queston.net.  For information about the Tulie Gate gathering, please contact Kathy Tyler at 575-585-2896.  For information about the Stallion Range Gate gathering, please contact Louisa Lopez at 575-835-8146.

Tags: health impact assessment, plutonium bomb, Radiation Exposure Compensation Act, Trinity Site, Tularosa Basin Downwinders Consortium