Lincoln, Otero, Sierra, Socorro Counties – Health Impact Assessment: Potential Impact of the Radiation Exposure Compensation Act (RECA) Amendments on the Health of People of New Mexico
On July 16, 1945, the US Government tested the first nuclear device called “Gadget” in what was designated the “Trinity Site” in south central New Mexico. The Government described the area as “remote and uninhabited”. In reality there were more than 40,000 people living in the four counties surrounding the Trinity Site; they are Otero, Lincoln, Socorro and Sierra Counties. Some of the highest cancer rates in the U.S. are found in these counties. The people of New Mexico were the first victims of an atomic bomb and were unknowing, unwilling, uncompensated, innocent participants in the world’s largest science experiment. For full information…