For those who lived in the following counties: Coconino, Yavapai, Apache, Navajo, Gila and Mohave (north of the Grand Canyon) between 1951-1958 and July 1962, employed as a uranium worker beginning Jan. 1, 1942, ending Dec. 31, 1971 or worked as an on-site participant may qualify for federal compensation from $50,000 to $100,000. If you fit any areas listed above, you may have been exposed to radiation and should be screened for cancer and other serious problems that can develop years after exposure.

This Radiation Exposure Compensation Act seems a bit late. A worker exposed to radiation in 1942, say at age 20, would now be 87 years of age. If he lived that long, after being exposed to radiation. Bu, anyone ever been treated for cancer knows that $50,000 - $100,000 is a drop in the bottomless bucket compared to the money made from these projects during that time frame.

Finally, the article states that "Because the dangers of radiation exposure were unknown at the time, uranium workers were not protected and people who lived near the test sites were not warned or evacuated." Dangers of radiation poisoning were well known during the time mentioned above, although they were basically ignored in favor of "progress." All they had to do was recall Marie Curie, the physicist and chemist who died in 1934 from aplastic anemia, almost certainly contracted from her work with radioactive materials. She warned the public about the dangers of contact with radioactive materials before she died. If that wasn't enough there are these incidents, all which occurred before 1950 (see Wikipedia on radiation poisoning at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Radiation_poisoning):

1. In 1927 Hermann Joseph Muller published research showing genetic effects caused by radiation exposure, and in 1946 was awarded the Nobel prize for his findings (http://nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/medicine/laureates/1946/muller-bio.html)

2. "Before the biological effects of radiation were known, many physicians and corporations had begun marketing radioactive substances as patent medicine and radioactive quackery. Examples were radium enema treatments, and radium-containing waters to be drunk as tonics. poisoning. Eben Byers, a famous American socialite, died in 1932 after consuming large quantities of radium over several years; his death drew public attention to dangers of radiation" (http://www.clpgh.org/exhibit/neighborhoods/northside/nor_n106.html). By the 1930s, after a number of cases of bone necrosis and death in enthusiasts, radium-containing medical products had nearly vanished from the market.

3. Finally, the aftermath of the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki resulted in a large number of incidents of radiation poisoning, allowing for greater insight into its symptoms and dangers well before this act was finally passed. We're talking over half a century.

Don't get me wrong - although I'm highly critical of the slow progress, I'm thrilled that the government finally recognizes and is dealing with reality. The timing could not be more perfect if we're looking at yet another uranium mine, this time in close proximity to Virginia's urban areas.