Top prosecutors back compensation for those sickened by US nuclear weapons testing

By SUSAN MONTOYA BRYAN
Associated Press

ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. (AP) — New Mexico Attorney General Raúl Torrez and 13 other top prosecutors from around the U.S. are uniting in support of efforts to compensate people sickened by exposure to radiation during nuclear weapons testing. The Democratic officials have sent a letter to congressional leaders, saying it’s time for the federal government to give back to those who sacrificed so much. The letter refers to the estimated half-million people who lived within a 150-mile radius of where the world’s first atomic bomb was tested in New Mexico in 1945. It also pointed to thousands in Idaho, Colorado, Nevada, Utah, Arizona, Montana and Guam who are currently not eligible under the existing compensation program.