Downwinders and the Radioactive West is a documentary film which premiered on US television (PBS) in 2021.
The topic is the nuclear testing program in the western part of the continental USA in the 1950s and the 1960s and the radioactive fallout produced by this program.
Whenever a nuclear bomb was tested on the ground, a huge radioactive cloud appeared above the site where the bomb exploded. The wind moved the cloud in a certain direction and the cloud passed over a certain area. The people who lived in the area over which the cloud passed are known as downwinders.
What were the consequences of the nuclear testing program and the radioactive fallout produced by the testing program?
Many people believe the health of the downwinders was undermined by the radioactive fallout produced by the nuclear testing program which caused deadly diseases, such as cancer and leukemia.
Other people are sceptical. They say there is little or no connection between the nuclear testing program and the health of the downwinders.
They say the nuclear testing program was safe and insist that claims made by downwinders are not supported by the scientific evidence.
In this film, the topic is discussed in great detail by three groups: downwinders, local politicians, and academic experts who have studied the scientific evidence.
Here is some basic information about this film:
** Writer, producer and director: John Howe
** Narrator: Peter Coyote
** Production: PBS Utah
** Available on the PBS website
** Language: English
** Subtitles: English
** Run time: 57 minutes
Several persons are interviewed in this film. Here are the names of the participants (divided into four categories):
# 1. Downwinders
** Mel Clark – resident of Cedar City, sheep rancher
** Mary Dickson – journalist, writer
** Ilene Hacker – resident of St. George
** Tosh Kano – Hiroshima 1945 survivor, resident of Salt Lake City
** Ian Zabarte – Principal Man, Western Shoshone Tribe
# 2. Local politicians
** Michael Okerlund Leavitt – Republican politician, governor of Utah 1993-2003 – Secretary of Health and Human Services 2005-2009
** Jim Matheson – Democratic politician, Congressman from Utah 2001-2015 (son of Scott Matheson, who was governor of Utah 1977-1985)
** Ben McAdams – Democratic politician, Congressman from Utah 2019-2021
** Tom Udall – Democratic politician, US Senator from New Mexico 2009-2021 – US ambassador to New Zealand since 2021 (son of Stewart Lee Udall, who was Secretary of the Interior 1961-1969)
# 3. Academic experts
** Bruce W. Church – a retired radiation expert, Department of Energy (this person defends the nuclear testing program)
** Rod Decker – journalist, author (this person is sceptical)
** Dr Heidi Hanson – epidemiologist, Huntsman Cancer Institute, University of Utah
** Dr David Kennedy – historian, Stanford University
** Dr Steven L. Simon – staff scientist, Division of Cancer, Epidemiology and Genetics, National Cancer Institute (this person is sceptical)
** Dr Ken Smith – epidemiologist, Huntsman Cancer Institute, University of Utah
# 4. Others
** The Honorable Bruce Sterling Jenkins (1927-2023) – a Senior US District Judge for the District of Utah
Archive footage is used between the talking heads. Archive footage is used to support and supplement the statements made by the participants. Archive footage is used when the narrator is speaking.
THE DOWNWINDERS AND THEIR CASE
According to this film, the victims of the nuclear testing program and the radioactive fallout can be divided into at least four and maybe five categories:
# 1. Livestock, primarily sheep
# 2. Civilians living in places like St. George and Salt Lake City (Utah)
# 3. Native Americans, members of the Western Shoshone Tribe, living in Nevada and Utah
# 4. American soldiers who were stationed around the test site during an explosion
# 5. Native Americans, members of the Navajo Tribe, who worked in uranium mines in Arizona
When ranchers in Utah noticed that many sheep were sick and died, they suspected that this was a consequence of the nuclear testing program and the radioactive fallout produced by the testing program.
They decided to sue the government. They wanted an apology and economic compensation for their losses.
The case was heard in 1956. The presiding judge Albert Sherman Christensen (1905-1996) ruled in favour of the government. The ranchers lost the case. There was no apology and no economic compensation.
Many years later, new information about the case was discovered. It seemed the government had manipulated the evidence in order to avoid being blamed for the death of the livestock.
The ranchers decided to sue the government again. They hoped they could win this time. The case was heard in 1982. By a strange coincidence, the presiding judge was the same as the one who had ruled in the case back in 1956.
Judge Christensen was impressed by the new information. He declared that the government had misled the court in 1956 and this time he ruled in favour of the ranchers. The government lost the case.
According to the judge, the government should issue an apology and offer economic compensation to the ranchers. But the government refused to do this.
The government appealed, and in 1985 when the case was heard in a court of appeal, judge Christensen’s ruling was overturned.
When residents in places like St. George and Salt Lake City began to suffer from cancer and leukemia, they suspected that this was a consequence of the nuclear testing program and the radioactive fallout produced by the testing program.
They decided to sue the government. They wanted an apology and economic compensation for their suffering.
The case was heard in 1984. The presiding judge Bruce Sterling Jenkins was impressed by the evidence presented in court. He ruled in favour of the downwinders. The government lost the case.
According to the judge, the government should issue an apology and offer economic compensation to the victims of the nuclear testing program. But the government refused to do this.
The government appealed, and when the case was heard in a higher court, judge Jenkins’ ruling was overturned.
The US government claimed the nuclear testing program was necessary to defend and protect the freedom and national security of the United States.
Apparently, this argument swayed the members of the higher court.
Whether the health of the downwinders had been undermined by the nuclear testing program or not, the need to defend and protect the freedom and national security of the United States was seen as more important than the health of the citizens of Utah.
** The ranchers lost in court when they talked about losing their sheep.
** The downwinders lost in court when they talked about losing their friends and members of their family.
But the cases were discussed in public, and the topic became a public issue.
There was a growing sentiment that something could and should be done about it. The politicians could not ignore this sentiment. They decided to act. In 1990, Congress passed a law which is known as RECA:
The Radiation Exposure Compensation Act
The law includes an official apology and offers economic compensation to victims of the nuclear testing program. The amount of compensation is divided into three levels:
** Low level
50,000 dollars = to civilians (the downwinders)
** Medium level
75,000 dollars = to American soldiers who were told to watch explosions
** High level
100,000 dollars = to Native American miners who worked in uranium mines
Some of the downwinders who are interviewed in this film use harsh words, strong language, when talking about the nuclear testing program in Nevada.
They say the leaders of the American government treated them like “guinea pigs.”
Some of the local politicians who are interviewed in this film use harsh words, strong language, when talking about the nuclear testing program in Nevada.
They say the leaders of the American government regarded the downwinders as “expendable.”
This is sad.
But true.
RATINGS AND REVIEWS
What do reviewers say about this film? This question is not easy to answer.
The film is not listed on IMDb. There is no rating and there are no reviews.
The film is not available on Amazon. There is no rating and there are no reviews.
CONCLUSION
What do I think? In my opinion, this is an important film about an important topic.
The story of the downwinders and the radioactive west deserves to be told, and in this film, it is done very well.
I do, however, have one minor complaint:
In this film, we hear from four politicians. Three are former members of Congress, while the fourth is a former governor of Utah. All four are free to speak their mind. They do not have to worry about being elected again.
But why do we not hear from current members of Congress? What about the US senators from Arizona, Nevara, and Utah? What about the Representatives of these three states? What do they have to say about this topic? Why do we not hear from any of them?
Did the filmmakers try to contact and interview current members of Congress? If the answer to this question is yes, what was the response?
I think it is remarkable that the only politicians who speak out in this film are former politicians. What is the reason for this?
Having made this observation, I am not going to complain about anything else.
In my opinion, this is a great film which deserves a rating of five stars (100 percent).
REFERENCES
# 1. Books
** Justice Downwind: America’s Atomic Testing Program in the 1950s by Howard Ball (1986)
** Uranium Frenzy: Saga of the Nuclear West by Raye C. Ringholz (1989) (revised and expanded edition 2002)
** Fallout: An American Nuclear Tragedy by Philip Fradkin (1989) (second edition 2004)
** American Ground Zero: The Secret Nuclear War by Carole Gallagher (1993)
** The Atomic West edited by Bruce Hevly and John M. Findley (1998)
** Downwind: A People’s History of the Nuclear West by
Sarah Fox (2014) (2018)
** Doom Towns: The People and Landscapes of Atomic Testing by Andrew G. Kirk (author) and Kristian Purcell (illustrator) (2016)
# 2. Film and video
** The Atomic Café (1982)
Run time = 1 hour 32 minutes
IMDb = 76 percent
Rotten Tomatoes = 93 percent
** Trinity and Beyond (1995)
Run time = 2 hours
IMDb = 79 percent
** Countdown to Zero (2010)
Run time = 1 hour 32 minutes
IMDb = 69 percent
Rotten Tomatoes = 79 percent
** Downwind (2023)
Directors = Douglas Brian Miller and Mark Shapiro
Writers = Warren Etheredge and Mark Shapiro
Narrator = Martin Sheen
Run time = 1 hour36 minutes
IMDb = 69 percent
# 3. Items available on the internet
** Lynn Smith,
“She crusades for downwinders.”
Los Angeles Times
6 March 1987
** Rory Carroll,
“Hollywood and the downwinders still grapple with nuclear fallout,”
The Guardian
6 June 2015
** Tom Williams, “Nuclear workers and a different side to Utah’s nuclear history,” Utah Public Radio, 8 February 2021 (49 minutes)
** Emma Feuz, “New legislation has been introduced to extend support for Utah downwinders,” Utah Public Radio, 20 October 2021 (2 minutes)
*****
Downwinders
and the Radioactive West
(PBS Utah, 2021)
*****
Downwind:
A People's History of the Nuclear West
By Sarah Fox
(2014) (2018)
*****
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