Where I Stand — Mike O’Callaghan: Wait and they will die

Sunday, Oct. 31, 1999 | 10:13 a.m.

Mike O'Callaghan is the Las Vegas Sun Executive Editor.

SOME THINGS never change and the practice of withholding services and money from deserving Americans is an old habit of both Congress and the White House. Oh, they are always going to rectify injustices but the longer they wait the less it will cost because large numbers of qualified recipients will die off before anything is done.

A good example is the millions of Americans who have died since Congress began to shortchange Social Security payments to those members of the Greatest Generation born between 1917 and 1926. These are the men and women who lived through the Great Depression and fought World War II. The so-called "notch babies" were handed the short end of the stick 27 years ago and those remaining have been given no relief. Nevada's Sen. Harry Reid has seen his "Notch Fairness Act" and amendments flushed down the toilets of committee conferences and one still is awaiting death in the Senate Finance Committee.

As I have pointed out before, most of our senior citizens need every cent they have earned and are receiving from the Social Security system. The loss of $360 to $2,400 yearly can make the difference between having hamburger or a peanut butter sandwich. It can also mean the difference between buying a small gift for a grandchild or sending only a birthday card.

All Congress has to do is wait another 15 or 20 years and all of the notch babies will be dead and buried. So will the military men who were brought to the Nevada desert and exposed to above-ground detonations of nuclear weapons. Last week the Institute of Medicine released a copy of extensive research on exactly how this exposure had affected the military participants. Although other veterans and those exposed to the nuclear blasts live about the same length of time, there were some differences in how they died.

Briefly, without all of the scientific "ifs, ands or buts" the Nevada atomic vets have a higher death rate from leukemia, prostate cancer and nasal cancer. Minnesota's Sen. Paul Wellstone states that "atomic veterans are victims of more than 50 years of U.S. government deceit and neglect." The shame of it all is that this neglect and deceit has become acceptable government policy. Wait long enough and it will be cheaper to care for those few left alive. Only 50 claims by these vets have been accepted by the Department of Veterans Affairs. That's 50 from 13,000 claims filed by the former sailors, soldiers and Marines.

The Sun's nuclear problem expert, Mary Manning, has been reporting these obvious health problems experienced by the atomic vets, downwind fallout victims and Nevada Test Site workers for more than two decades. Some examples of her reports follow:

"The officers were about 2,500 yards away from the experiment, a mile closer than the nearest troops, according to documents."

"All of those officers have died, according to Patricia Broudy, legislative director for the National Association of Atomic Veterans."

From the Associated Press came this story lead 14 years ago:

"Soldiers and sailors exposed to radiation and two U.S. atomic test sites in the 1950s are showing higher-than-normal death rates from certain cancers, the National Research Council reported Monday."

So why is any senator or citizen surprised by this recent revelation about the deadly health problems suffered by the atomic vets?

The author of "Atomic Soldiers: American Victims of Nuclear Experiments," Howard Rosenberg told Sun reporter Jeff Adler almost 15 years ago that "If the government admits that the levels of radiation the soldiers were exposed to could be linked to increased cancer and leukemia it is an admission in itself that would prove devastating, since it would be tantamount to admitting the radiation nuclear workers can be exposed to is also dangerous."

Just wait long enough and there will be far fewer to qualify for the health care they need and have earned.

It's a shame but this is just another sad example of what American voters allow to continue and flourish under the guise of what we want to believe is good government. Shame, shame on us.