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Show THE ZEPHYRJULY 1992 PAGE 20 the downside of the Boom the health risks that no one expected byKenDavey Barney Stalcup was a bear of a man, big and barrel chested and strong. Need help pushing a car out of a ditch? He's they guy you wanted. Barney was a miner, worked in the uranium industry in Moab, had worked for Charlie Steen. But in the early 1970s, Barney was sick with cancer. Doctors cut out his lung. Then they cut out his voicebox. Then Barney died, at the age of 54. As many in Moab remember and celebrate the 40th anniversary of the uranium find at Mi Vida mine, there are others in town who remember the time and the final results of the period differently. ' For along with the memories of eccentric prospectors and studious engineers and salesmen and charming rogues and outright con artists who flourished during the boom, along with file heady feeling of being a part of a town on the rise, there is also a legacy of miners who each day, for months and years, entered the narrow and dark underground tunnels and took home with the them seeds of their own death, the cancers that literally ate away their bodies. The cause of that death was a gas emitted from uranium, called radon, and specifically, the decaying partides thrown off from that highly radioactive gas, called radon daughters. But while the cause was radon, the culprit was the United States Government, which failed in its responsibility to guard the health of its citizens. Forty years later, the government has enacted a bill, proposed by Congressman Wayne Owens and guided through the Senate by Senator Qrrin Hatch, to provide compensation for the victims of that neglect, in essence a financial apology for its actions. For many of the families touched by the issue, the apologies come too late. There is a book in print called Uranium Frenzy, written by Utah author Raye Ringholz. The book covers the history of the boom times along the Colorado Plateau, documenting the rise and foil of Charley Steen, the rush of investors and stock speculators, file push to get claims established and worked. And the book also details the role of the United States Government It watched the growing industry, understood its health implications, and decided, in the interests of national security, to downplay them. Uranium is the basic dement used in the production of nuclear power, for commercial and military purposes. Uranium is radioactive, which means it is highly unstable, throwing off particles in its natural state and breaking down into other dements. One of those dements is radium, which in turn breaks down into a gas called radon. And radon is also unstable, emitting microscopic particles called radon daughters. These daughters last anywhere from a few minutes down to micro seconds before they too decay into other dements. The partides, if breathed in by humans, can often be exhaled without apparent damage to the body. But if the concentration of radon daughters in the air remains high for an extended period of time, the daughters are not expelled, and are absorbed into the tissue and bone, where they continue to break down into other elements, creating a chain reaction of decay, and the formation of still more daughters. The daughters invade the genetic material within living cells, and the process of cellular reproduction, constantly taking place within every living organism, is destroyed. Instead of new organ tissue, cancerous tumors are formed. The drilling, scrapingand digging in a uranium mine unleashes the decay process, filling the air of the shaft with the radon gas and the potentially deadly daughters. Constant forced ventilation keeps moving the gas out of the air, and scientists believe the levels absorbed by the body remains low. But in stagnant air, the gas enters and remains, beginning the destructive v ; pattern. Moab in the 1950s and 1960s was alive with enthusiasm for the new industry. The federal government was charging full steam ahead in a campaign to produce a nuclear arsenal, and had a pressing need far more and more uranium. Uranium companies pushed to get mines and mills into production, to take advantage of the government's desire to pay high prices for the element. And miners, some coming in from out of town, others bom and raised in Grand County and other rural parts of the state, saw a chance to finally make some money. The jobs were well paid, were expected to last for years, and gave mining families a chance to buy homes, cars, the vast array of appliances being produced by American industry. Everybody saw the boom, and everybody liked it. Except a couple of doctors, who were aware of studies of miners in other places, especially the "European Experience," scientific literature going back centuries detailing greatly expanded death rates among German and Czechoslovakian miners. These doctors began assembling the data that would soon indicate the same cycle of disease and death could and probably would be repeated on the Colorado Plateau if something wasn't done to prevent it. And since the deadly particles were colorless, and odorless, and since sickness came not immediately but years in the future, it was difficult to get the industry to take it seriously, and it was hard to explain to miners an invisible en&my MIGHT kill them in two decades, when the miners knew without their next paychecks, their families could lose the piece of the American Dream they worked and sweated for. One solution was proper ventilation of the mines, and safety equipment including respirators full-blo- fast-talki- ng . of death was a gas emitted from uranium, catted radon, and specifically, the decaying particles thrown off from that highly radioactive gas, called radon daughters . But while the cause was radon, the culprit was the United States Government, which failed in its responsibility to guard the health of its citizens. The cause . : ' . - , !. for those underground. But ventilation systems were expensive, and companies, in existence to make a profit, were not about to rush into costly safety programs on what they saw as little more than medical hunches. And miners shunned safety equipment, bulky and hot, that made their already uncomfortable and tiring work even more demanding. The only player in the equation who could look at the big question was the government But fiie United States was engaged in the cold war, and production of uranium for the stockpile of atomic weapons took first priority. And a safety campaign would slow that production, unacceptable to top government officials. So they sat on their evidence, resigned it to further study, ordered their subordinates to suggest, but not require safety improvements. Evidence of problems was suppressed. And the men began to die. It took some years, but doctors monitoring the situation noted the upturn in cancers, particularly oat cell cancer, a form associated with radiation exposure. Testing was done an miners, results showing the inevitable rejection of life within their own bodies was growing. ; : ! Ringholz describes the frustration of Willard Wirtz, the US. Secretary of Labor, who pushed hard for stricter safety standards, fought the combined efforts of hostile elected officials and mining executives, stood up to the arguments that bureaucrats in Washington should keep their regulations to themselves, but who finally backed down and settled for limiting radon levels in the mines only half as stringent as own experts believed were needed. j to produce still on was the rush but been had the standards 1970s, safety By improved, uranium, for what was seen as a burgeoning private energy industry, producing relatively inexpensive nuclear power. But then Three Mile Island happened, a leak in a power plant in Pennsylvania that became a national nightmare. What actually happened at the plant, how much nuclear contamination took place and what the effect was, are Still being cfobatecLTBut it permanently changed the attitude of the mass of the American population against nuclear power, an aversion that continues today, whether or valid or invalid reasons. But while the industry faded here in the 1980s with the closing of most of the mines and the j shutdown of the Atlas plant, the deaths continued. A few weeks ago, some local residents ran into Eola Gamer at the softball fields on Center Street. Eola was a major figure, and hero, in Ringholz' Uranium Frenzy. She was Tex Garner's husband. Tex was an athlete, a minor league baseball player who ended up working in the mines throughout the region. A strong, athletic man, he spent hours teaching baseball to Moab's kids, exuding a positive, optimistic outlook in everything he did. Tex died in 1963 of cancer from radiation exposure. He was 47 years of age. , least at to some responsibility for the death Eola's efforts to get the government acknowledge is a riveting tale. Though die never received compensation equaling the amount she spent on the fighf, her tale of never giving up, through the courts and into the halls of Congress, shows that an individual can make a difference, can help those who follow her, both the heirs of uranium victims, and miners themselves who benefited from stronger health and safety standards. In June of 1989, Neal Madsen went into Allen Memorial Hospital for medical treatment for was taken. Doctors an irregular heartbeat In August, he returned to the hospital, where an concluded Neal was suffering from oat cell cancer tumors in his lungs. Soon Neal developed hoarseness, then lost his voice, and in December of that year, he died at the age of 69. Neal was an intensely private man, who kept his feelings to himself. While he was side, his wife Helen saw at the county library a copy of Ringholz' Uranium Frenzy. At first glance, it looked like a book simply about the bustle and activity of the boom times, Helen didn't notice the chapters dealing with the question of cancer. When Neal finished the book and gave it back x-r-ay , NEEDLES OUTPOST Canyonlands National Park - Needles District Located 34 miles west of Hwy 191 on Hioy 211 campinglpartial hookups 4x4 rentals scenic flights maps, books, information general storesnack bar ice, cold beer, pop showers firewood jeep tours by reservation gaspropane 259-20- 32 or 259-854- 5 |