EXPAND & EXTEND THE RADIATION EXPOSURE COMPENSATION ACT
HEAL Utah’s New Development Intern.
What’s Going on?
Thanks to constituents (like you!), Congress voted to extend the Radiation Exposure Compensation Act (RECA), a program that compensates nuclear weapons development and testing victims, by two years. This extension is a great first step to preserving and expanding RECA, but it still falls short.
Since the dawn of the nuclear age, thousands of Americans have died or been harmed by U.S. nuclear weapons — disproportionately these have been poor, rural, Black, Indigenous, and people of color. From workers who mined and milled uranium without proper protective gear to American citizens caught downwind of hundreds of nuclear tests and exposed to dangerous radiation without their consent, these weapons cause irreparable damage at every stage of production, maintenance, and use.
What are the next steps?
Your legislators are committed to continuing to work on extension and expansion during the next two years, and there’s already great legislation in the works. The RECA Amendments of 2021 (H.R. 5338/S. 2798) would extend RECA for an additional 19 years and expand eligibility for communities harmed by radiation exposure across New Mexico, Idaho, Montana, Colorado, Guam, Utah, Nevada, and Arizona. Expanding coverage and support is vital to remediate the harms inflicted upon unknowing Americans for decades — harms that continue today. Extending and expanding RECA could change the lives of people in these communities by providing them the access to the medical care they so desperately need.
Fill out this action alert and then call, email, and otherwise contact your federal and state representatives to urge them to accept responsibility and provide support for the harm it has inflicted upon its citizens