Double Whammy, two strikes and you're out

My cousin died this week. He was 64 years old and succumbed to his second bout with cancer. He grew up and spent most of his life in Moses Lake, Washington. Moses Lake is a special place only because it is down wind from the Hanford Nuclear Reservation. While my cousin was growing up radiation was released from there, some accidental but even worse the intentional releases. The people down wind from Hanford were used as part of an experiment to study the effects of radiation on the population. Moses Lake has an abnormally high cancer rate. Of the 3 children in my cousin's family two have had cancer. After many years of denial the Energy Department has admitted some responsibility but the excuse given is "it was the cold war". I guess the question I have is who was the enemy? Was it the communists in the Soviet Union or the government performing potentially lethal experiments on it's own citizens?

Now for the double whammy, strike two. When my cousin first took ill about a year and a half ago his doctor requested some tests, including an MRI. This request was denied by his HMO. After his health continued to decline for several months the tests were finally authorized. By that time it was too late, the cancer had spread and was inoperable. There is no way to know if earlier detection would have saved him but we do know that the delay in the tests eliminated any possibility of survival.

For more on the existing threat from Hanford see US nuclear clean-up carries major risks.