Radiogenic diseases listed below qualify for VA disability compensation. But the plight of atomic veterans is not a simple matter of black and white, of obvious cause and effect. I believe this broad-brush approach only makes it more difficult for those who do have legitimate claims. Not every atomic vet has complaints, physical or otherwise. Ernest Fisher, now 79, participated in Operation Greenhouse and worked several years at the Nevada Test Site.
Radiation is a known potential hazard and an easy culprit to blame.
But radiation simply cannot be responsible for every otherwise unexplainable cancer or other illness in a group of aging atomic veterans. The science surrounding this issue tends to substantiate the government's position that relatively few cancers and other illnesses resulted from the bomb tests. Following Paul Cooper's claim, CDC looked at other participants of Shot Smoky . In 1995, another study found that about 8,500 Navy veterans of Operation Hardtack had more overall deaths and higher rates of digestive tract cancer than did a similar group of sailors with no radiation exposure. Researchers, however, found no increase among Hardtack participants for most of the cancers known to be caused by radiation.