More support is on the way for the longstanding effort to get compensation for Guam radiation victims of U.S. nuclear testing in the pacific during the 1940s and '50s.

Senators are expected to pass a resolution discussed during session today that supports a pair of U.S. House and Senate bills to extend radiation exposure compensation to Guam. Main sponsor Speaker Therese Terlaje cites the testimony of a Navy man who was on duty here when the first thermonuclear detonation occurred on Eniwetok Atoll in the Marshall Islands.

"Retired US Navy Lt. Charles Burt Schreiber, who was stationed on Guam and on duty during the detonation of Ivy Mike in November 1952 recalled in sworn testimony witnessing the Geiger counter measuring off-scale levels of ionizing radiation on the island of Guam," she said. "Lt. Schreiber even stated, quote, 'I panicked, my first thought was that Guam had been subjected to some radioactive dust attack.'"

The resolution goes on to state that Guam is located about 1,200 miles directly west of the nuclear test sites and received radioactive fallout from these tests.

"Radioactive dust particles traveled through westward-flowing jet streams from the Marshall Islands," Terlaje said. "In addition, ships present in the Marshall Islands during nuclear testing were decontaminated in Guam's harbors with acidic detergents and the runoff from the operations went directly into the local fishing and reef environment."

A mark-up hearing on the House Bill is set for Dec. 8. The longstanding effort to win compensation has been led by the Pacific Association of Radiation Survivors, founded by group President Robert Celestial.

The new bills provide those persons present in Guam for at least one year from 1946 to 1962 and were diagnosed with cancer are eligible for $150,000 compensation and medical benefits under the Radiation Exposure Compensation Act. The cancer diagnoses eligible under RECA include:

• leukemia (excluding chronic lymphocytic
leukemia)
• multiple myeloma
• lymphoma (other than Hodgkin’s disease),
and primary cancers of the:
• thyroid
• male or female breast
• esophagus
• stomach
• pharynx
• small intestine
• pancreas
• bile ducts
• gallbladder
• salivary gland
• urinary bladder
• brain
• colon
• ovary
• liver (except if cirrhosis or hepatitis B
is indicated), and
• lung