On the recordOctober 14, 1998
H.R. 559 would do a very simple thing. It would add a rare form of cancer, bronchiolo-alveolar pulmonary carcinoma, to the list of cancers that are presumed to be service connected for veterans who were exposed to radiation, in accordance with the provisions of Public Law 100-321. In 1986, Madam Speaker, I became acquainted with Joan McCarthy, a constituent from New Jersey. Mrs. McCarthy has worked for many years to locate other atomic veterans and their widows and she founded the New Jersey Association of Atomic Veterans. Joan's husband, Tom McCarthy, was a participant in Operation Wigwam, a nuclear test in May of 1955 which involved an underwater detonation of a 30-kiloton plutonium bomb in the Pacific Ocean about 500 miles southwest of San Diego. The detonation of the nuclear weapon broke the surface of the water, creating a giant wave and bathing the area with a radioactive mist.
Source
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