Health burdens of uranium miners will extend beyond the radiation exposure compensation act deadline

The US Radiation Exposure Compensation Act (RECA) is a government compensation programme, which provides partial restitution to individuals whose health was affected by nuclear weapons testing or uranium industry employment. RECA covers US uranium miners employed between 1942 and 1971 who developed or died from lung cancer, pulmonary fibrosis, silicosis, pneumoconiosis or cor pulmonale related to lung fibrosis. RECA is set to terminate this year. The filing deadline for living claimants or spouses of deceased claimants is 10 July 2022.1 To assess evidence of whether uranium miners will continue to develop compensable diseases after the termination of RECA, we examined mortality rate trends within the US Colorado Plateau uranium miner cohort. The US Colorado Plateau cohort includes 4137 underground uranium miners employed for at least 1 month and with one or more medical screenings between 1950 and 1960. Underlying cause of death was ascertained through 2016 using the...
Source: Occupational and Environmental Medicine - Category: Occupational Health Authors: Tags: PostScript Source Type: research