[Congressional Record Volume 143, Number 154 (Thursday, November 6, 1997)]
[Senate]
[Pages S11869-S11871]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]

      By Mr. WELLSTONE:
  S. 1385. A bill to amend title 38, United States Code, to expand the 
list of diseases presumed to be service connected with respect to 
radiation-exposed veterans; to the Committee on Veterans Affairs.


              the justice for atomic veterans act of 1997

  Mr. WELLSTONE. Mr. President, today, I am introducing a bill that 
will help atomic veterans--veterans who were exposed to ionizing 
radiation while serving on active duty. Atomic veterans are not only 
America's most neglected veterans, but they have been deceived and 
treated shabbily for more than 50 years by the Government they served 
so selflessly and unquestioningly.
  Mr. President, it is hardly accidental that I chose to entitle this 
bill the ``Justice for Atomic Veterans Act of 1997.'' Atomic veterans 
have been seeking justice almost since the first atomic bomb was 
dropped on Hiroshima. The U.S. Government has a long overdue debt to 
them and I urge my colleagues to join me in ensuring that this debt is 
paid at long last.
  With the full cooperation of my distinguished colleagues Senators 
Bond and Mikulski, the Senate in July passed an amendment to the VA-HUD 
appropriations bill which serves as the basis for this bill. That 
amendment, which was in the legislation that the President signed 
recently, provided for CBO to estimate the cost of legislation that 
would add 10 radiogenic diseases to the list of presumptively service-
connected diseases for which atomic veterans may be compensated by the 
VA. The amendment also requires the Senate Veterans' Affairs Committee 
to hold hearings on expanding the list of radiogenic diseases that are 
presumptively service-connected within 60 days of enactment. To 
facilitate consideration by the Veterans' Affairs Committee and to 
secure the support of my colleagues, I'm introducing this bill.
  Mr. President, before I get into the substance of my bill, I want to 
discuss why I decided to introduce it. First and foremost, I must 
stress that much of what I know about atomic veterans I've learned from 
members and families of the Forgotten 216th. The Forgotten 216th refers 
to the 216th Chemical Service Company of the U.S. Army, which 
participated in Operation Tumbler Snapper--a series of eight 
atmospheric nuclear weapons tests in the Nevada desert in 1952. About 
half of the members of the 216th were Minnesotans. Almost 4 years ago, 
they contacted me after then-Secretary of Energy O'Leary announced that 
the U.S. Government had conducted radiation experiments on its own 
citizens. I will never forget my first meeting with members of the 
Forgotten 216th. It was quite an emotional experience for them as well 
as for me. For the first time in public, they revealed what went on 
during the Nevada tests they participated in over 40 years ago, as well 
as the tragedies and trauma they, their families, and former buddies 
had experienced since then.
  Since that first dramatic meeting, I've met often with the brave and 
patriotic members of the Forgotten 216th and their families. They have 
been and are my mentors. I'm very proud of

[[Page S11870]]

these extraordinary Minnesotans who have fought hard against great odds 
for just treatment for atomic veterans and their families.
  Because I believe that their experiences and problems typify that of 
atomic veterans nationwide, I want to tell my colleagues more about the 
Forgotten 216th. After you hear their story, I'm confident you'll agree 
with me that it is imperative that all of us work to ensure the 
Forgotten 216th and other veterans like them are never forgotten again.
  Mr. President, when they took part in Operation Tumbler Snapper 45 
years ago, they believed their Government's assurances that it would 
keep them out of harm's way, but they have come to believe they were 
used a guina pigs without concern for their safety.
  Many members of the 216th were sent to measure fallout at or near 
ground zero immediately after a nuclear blast, exposing them to so much 
radiation that their Geiger counters went off the scale while they 
inhaled and ingested radioactive particles. They were given minimal or 
no protection, sometimes even lacking film badges to measure radiation 
exposure and provided with no information on the perils they faced. 
Furthermore, they were sworn to secrecy about their participation in 
nuclear tests, sometimes denied access to their own service medical 
records, and provided no medical followup to ensure they'd suffered no 
ill effects as a result of their exposure to radiation.
  Tragically, many members of the 216th have already died, often of 
cancer. Moreover, many of their children and even grandchildren have 
been born with serious and rare disorders, even after they'd had 
healthy children prior to exposure to radiation. Their claims for VA 
compensation were denied, often because they were alleged to have been 
exposed to radiation doses too low to cause disabling illnesses. Since 
they'd inhaled radioactive dust near Ground Zero shortly after nuclear 
blasts, they were and are justifiably skeptical about claims that their 
exposures were insufficient to cause radiogenic diseases. Can anyone 
really be surprised that these men now refer to themselves as the 
forgotten 216th?
  Mr. President, I would not like to turn to the substance of my bill. 
I want to stress at the outset that this legislation is directly 
responsive to one of the recommendations of the Final Report of the 
President's Advisory Committee on Human Radiation Experiments issued in 
October 1995. The Report urged the Congress to address five concerns of 
atomic veterans and their families ``promptly.'' My bill directly 
addresses two of these concerns, which the report described as follows:

       The listing of diseases for which relief is automatically 
     provided--the presumptive diseases provided for in the 1988 
     law--is incomplete and inadequate.
       The standard of proof for those without presumptive disease 
     is impossible to meet and, given the questionable condition 
     of the exposure records retained by the government, 
     inappropriate.

  The VA maintains two lists of radiogenic diseases, a presumptive list 
established under Public Law 101-321 as amended by Public Law 102-578 
and now consisting of 15 radiogenic diseases, and a nonpresumptive list 
established under Public Law 98-542 which includes 10 diseases not on 
the presumptive list. My bill would add these 10 diseases to the 
presumptive list, making all diseases currently recognized by the VA as 
radiogenic presumptively service-connected. The radiogenic diseases 
that would be added to the presumptive list are: lung cancer; bone 
cancer; skin cancer; colon cancer; posterior subcapsular cataracts; 
nonmalignant thyroid nodular disease; ovarian cancer; parathyroid 
adenoma; tumors of the brain and central nervous system; and rectal 
cancer.
  Why the need for these changes? To being with veterans must 
jump through hoops to demonstrate they are eligible for compensation 
for nonpresumptive diseases and, after they have done so the chances 
that the VA will approve their claims are minimal.

  Mr. President, to illustrate what I mean, permit me to cite some VA 
statistics. As of April 1, 1996, out of the hundreds of thousands of 
atomic veterans there are, there have been a total of 18,515 radiation 
claim cases, with service-connection granted in 1,886 cases. According 
to VA statistics current as of December 1, 1995, only 463 involve the 
granting of presumptive service-connection. If we were to exclude the 
463 veterans who were granted presumptive service-connection, atomic 
veterans had an incredibly low claims approval rate of less than 8 
percent. It needs to be stressed, moreover, that of this low 
percentage, an indeterminate number may have had their claims granted 
for diseases unrelated to radiation exposure.
  Why so few claims approvals? One key reason is that VA regulations 
are overly stringent for service-connection for nonpresumptive 
radiogenic diseases. Dose requirements pose a particularly difficult, 
if not insuperable, hurdle. While it is almost impossible to come up 
with accurate dose reconstructions because decades have elapsed since 
the nuclear detonations and adequate records don't exist, veterans are 
frequently denied compensation because their radiation exposure levels 
are deemed to be too low.
  In this connection, let me cite the findings of the President's 
Advisory Committee on Human Radiation Experiments: ``the Government did 
not create or maintain adequate records regarding the exposure of all 
participants in [nuclear weapons tests and] the identity and test 
locales of all participants.'' This finding obviously calls into 
question the capability of the Government to come up with accurate dose 
reconstructions on which approval of claims for VA compensation for 
atomic veterans frequently depend.
  Mr. President, is there any reason that atomic veterans should be 
penalized for the U.S. Government's failure to maintain records that 
are fundamental in determining the merit of their VA claims? Of course, 
their isn't. If the Government can not even be counted on to come up 
with the ``identity and test locales of all participants,'' what can it 
be counted on to do? Certainly not on giving atomic veterans a fair 
shake. Certainly not anything resembling the ``benefit of the doubt'' 
that the VA is required to accord them.
  For these and other reasons it is vital that the Senate pass 
legislation to ensure that these patriotic and long-suffering veterans 
receive the justice that has been denied them for so many years. 
Justice is what my bill is all about. It will ensure that atomic 
veterans no longer have to depend on a benefit of the doubt they rarely 
receive. How can they receive the benefit of the doubt when the 
Government records on which the whole edifice of VA claims adjudication 
rests are flawed or nonexistent? When dose reconstruction on which 
their claims depend is unreliable? When the health effects of exposure 
to purportedly low-level radiation are unknown or still the subject of 
scientific controversy 52 years after the first nuclear blast at 
Alamogordo, NM?
  By now it should be obvious to all of my colleagues that the current 
system of adjudicating atomic veterans' claims makes little sense and 
is discriminatory. Like many of you I believe that `if it ain't broke 
don't fix it.'' Well this system is obviously broke and we need to fix 
it now. Both the fairest and quickest way of doing so is by adding the 
10 radiogenic diseases now only on the nonpresumptive list to the 
presumptive list as my bill proposes.
  Mr. President, since January 1994, I have had many meetings with the 
men of the Forgotten 216th and atomic veterans from around the country. 
I want to assure you that they remain patriotic Americans who are proud 
to have served this country. I have no doubt whatever they would gladly 
answer the call of duty again if their country was to call on them. A 
half century of neglect by the Government that put them in harm's way 
without even telling them so, has in no way dimmed their love of 
country. These are remarkable Americans and at long last they need to 
be treated like the remarkable Americans they are. Even though they 
have waited for over 50 years, they still retain the hope that they 
will receive the compensation and recognition they deserve.
  The fight of atomic veterans for justice has been long, hard, and 
frustrating, but these patriotic, dedicated, and deserving veterans 
have persevered. I urge my colleagues from both sides of the aisle to 
join that struggle by supporting the Justice for Atomic Veterans Act. 
Let me assure each of you it's a struggle worth waging and a struggle 
we can win.

[[Page S11871]]

  Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the text of the bill be 
printed in the Record.
  There being no objection, the bill was ordered to be printed in the 
Record, as follows:

                                S. 1385

       Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of 
     the United States of America in Congress assembled,

     SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

       This Act may be cited as the ``Justice for Atomic Veterans 
     Act of 1997''.

     SEC. 2. EXPANSION OF LIST OF DISEASES PRESUMED TO BE SERVICE 
                   CONNECTED FOR RADIATION-EXPOSED VETERANS.

       Section 1112(c)(2) of title 38, United States Code, is 
     amended by adding at the end the following:
       ``(P) Lung cancer.
       ``(Q) Bone cancer.
       ``(R) Skin cancer.
       ``(S) Colon cancer.
       ``(T) Posterior subcapsular cataracts.
       ``(U) Non-malignant thyroid nodular disease.
       ``(V) Ovarian cancer.
       ``(W) Parathyroid adenoma.
       ``(X) Tumors of the brain and central nervous system.
       ``(Y) Rectal cancer.''.
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