A Book Review of Atomic Farmgirl: The Hanford Nuclear Site and the Tragedy of the Downwinders

atomic farmer It is a well written account of the life of a downwinder’s family and their neighbors in Palouse Hills, eastern Washington state. HAS wind down is a person who lived in the area where iodine-131, nuclear waste from the Hanford Nuclear Reservoir, was released in the late 1940s through the 1950s. After the passage of the Freedom of Information Act and the Spokesperson Review began to investigate the launches and by comparing them with the wind patterns, this information was made available to the general population.

This downwinder’s The story is open, honest, and filled with great examples of character development. The author, Teri Hein, paints a picture of life in the farming communities of a small town in eastern Washington. She covers rolling hills, harvest time, wheat, Steptoe Butte, loess, bird hunting, small schools, churches, football, basketball, baseball, parades, horses, and the list. continues: happy memories of growing up in a small farming community. However, an impending betrayal began to emerge. First her father, then a neighbor boy, another childhood friend, a neighbor mother, and the list grew over two decades. These people, the ones she knew most closely, began to get sick and most died. They contracted thyroid disease or cancer in one of its many forms: leukemia, lupus, Hodgkin lymphoma, and more. Eventually, Teri realized that something unique and sinister was happening in her neighborhood, as seven of the ten farm families within a square mile had contracted the diseases. In most of these families there were several members with thyroid disease or cancer. Her book covers the lives of those victims.

Like Teri, I grew up in one of these small towns: Oakesdale, just 25 miles southwest of Teri’s beloved Fairfield. If you draw a 100-mile line between the Hanford site and Fairfield, Oakesdale will be crossed by that line, a line that also represents the prevailing southwesterly winds. The experience of my neighborhood is congruent with that of Teri’s neighborhood.

One cold winter morning in the mid-fifties we awoke to a freshly fallen blanket of snow. It was dotted with beautiful pink spots like a miracle, but it wasn’t from nature or from heaven. I believe it was one of the many releases of radioactive toxins from the Hanford Nuclear Reservation. We played in that snow, we made snow angels and snowmen. Within the year, my closest neighbors, Tom Crossett and Ray Ebert, developed thyroid disease. Subsequently, Tom’s sister Suzy Crossett, my cousin Susan Gregory, Tom’s closest friends Danny Horn and Mike Lamb, my closest friend John Rogers, and three of the four Byrum brothers died of cancer, long before I was born. weather. Consequently, Teri’s story is deeply moving to me. Although I knew some of her older friends, I’ve never met Teri Hein, but I feel like I’ve known her my whole life. Teri opens her soul to the world and exposes every nerve.

I highly recommend it Atomic Farmgirl: Growing up in the wrong place. Everyone should be aware of this tragedy.