Nukewatch

Working for a nuclear-free future since 1979

  • Issues
    • Direct Action
    • Environmental Justice
    • Nuclear Power
      • Chernobyl
      • Fukushima
    • Nuclear Weapons
    • On The Bright Side
    • Radiation Exposure
    • Radioactive Waste
    • Renewable Energy
    • Uranium Mining
    • US Bombs Out of Germany
  • Quarterly Newsletter
    • Quarterly Newsletter
    • Newsletter Archives
  • Resources
    • Nuclear Heartland Book
    • Fact Sheets
    • Reports, Studies & Publications
      • The New Nuclear Weapons: $1.74 Trillion for H-bomb Profiteers and Fake Cleanups
      • Nuclear Power: Dead In the Water It Poisoned
      • Thorium Fuel’s Advantages as Mythical as Thor
      • Greenpeace on Fukushima 2016
      • Drinking Water at Risk: Toxic Military Wastes Haunt Lake Superior
    • Nukewatch in the News
    • Links
    • Videos
  • About
    • About Nukewatch
    • Contact Us
  • Get Involved
    • Action Alerts!
    • Calendar
    • Workshops
  • Donate

October 8, 2018 by Nukewatch Leave a Comment

Killing Our Own: Death Toll from Nuclear Weapons Tests Continues to Rise

While we will never know how many have died as a result of nuclear weapons testing, new studies reveal more information. In 1963 the Partial Test Ban Treaty marked an end to most above ground testing after 1,900 test bombs had already been exploded. The International Physicians for the Prevention of Nuclear War released a study in 1991 predicting as many as 2.4 million deaths worldwide from the resulting radioactive fallout. In 2001 author Dr. Rosalie Bertell, using official radiation risk estimates from the International Commission on Radiological Protection and radiation exposure data from the UN Scientific Committee on the Effects of Atomic Radiation, concluded there could be up to 175 million fatal cases of cancers due to the testing.

Bomb testing by the United States was done primarily at the Nevada Test Site (NTS) on Western Shoshone land and adjacent to Southern Paiute land, and on the Marshall Islands. A 2002 study by the US Department of Health and Human Services admitted that 11,000 US civilian deaths were caused by just the radioactive iodine-131 from the NTS. A new study related to the same nuclear tests conducted by University of Arizona professor Keith Meyer reports an estimated toll many times higher—as many as 695,000 deaths in the United States from 1951-1973. Using county radiation fallout maps, Meyer found a higher number of deaths related to the consumption of radioactive milk from cows grazing in areas of concentrated fallout.

—Keith Meyers, June 2017; The New Scientist, Mar. 2002; The Ecologist, April 2001; International Physicians for the Prevention of Nuclear War, 1991

Filed Under: Newsletter Archives, Nuclear Weapons, Quarterly Newsletter, Radiation Exposure

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.

Stay Connected

  • Facebook
  • Twitter

Subscribe

Donate

Facebook

Categories

  • B61 Bombs in Europe
  • Chernobyl
  • Counterfeit Reactor Parts
  • Depleted Uranium
  • Direct Action
  • Environment
  • Environmental Justice
  • Fukushima
  • Lake Superior Barrels
  • Military Spending
  • Newsletter Archives
  • North Korea
  • Nuclear Power
  • Nuclear Weapons
  • Office News
  • On The Bright Side
  • Photo Gallery
  • Quarterly Newsletter
  • Radiation Exposure
  • Radioactive Waste
  • Renewable Energy
  • Sulfide Mining
  • Through the Prism of Nonviolence
  • Uncategorized
  • Uranium Mining
  • US Bombs Out of Germany
  • War
  • Weekly Column

Contact Us

(715) 472-4185
nukewatch1@lakeland.ws

Address:
740A Round Lake Road
Luck, Wisconsin 54853
USA

Donate To Nukewatch

News & Information on Nuclear Weapons,
Power, Waste & Nonviolent Resistance

Stay Connected

  • Facebook
  • Twitter

© 2023 · Nukewatch