After long fight, Idaho Downwinders stricken by cancer can get compensation
Mary Alice Glen was 37 years old when she was diagnosed with breast cancer in 1996. Years earlier, her mother died from ovarian cancer. One of her sisters had breast cancer. A brother had colorectal cancer.
In the early 2000s, when Glen was in remission, people in her community in Boise were having recurrences of breast cancer and dying. “I thought, I can’t live with this,” she told the Idaho Statesman. She made the decision to have a mastectomy, even though she was not sick at that time. It was never a question for her. She didn’t want cancer again.
She’d long wondered why cancer was so prevalent among her family and friends. Last fall, the illnesses finally started to make sense. She learned she and her family were Downwinders.
Between 1951 and 1962, the federal government conducted nuclear tests in Nevada. The radiation affected people up to hundreds of miles away in Idaho and other surrounding states. Most of the tests were underground, but about 100 were atmospheric tests where the “atomic weapons exploded at or above ground level, resulting in radioactive material being released into the atmosphere,” according to a report prepared by the Congressional Research Service.
Researchers found some of the fallout affected food and milk supplies.
When Glen found out from one of her sisters, she was angry. “I mean, very, very angry,” she said, “that this happened to the citizens of the United States.” She was angry that the government tested nuclear weapons for what seemed to her to be no reason, and in doing so, harmed so many people.
For decades, the government offered some compensation through the Radiation Exposure Compensation Act to people with qualifying illnesses who had participated in atomic weapons testing or lived in certain areas when the tests occurred. The act is a federal law that “provides partial restitution” to people who developed certain illnesses after being exposed to radiation from the U.S. nuclear weapons program, among other projects, according to the U.S. Department of Justice. Survivors of family members who have died also can qualify for the compensation.
But that didn’t include Idaho — until recently.
Now, through December 2027, people across Idaho can apply for $100,000 in compensation if they or a family member had one of the eligible cancers and lived in the state between 1951 and 1962. Survivors can apply for equal shares of the payment if the person has died. It was a provision included in President Donald Trump’s “One Big, Beautiful Bill,” which was signed into law last summer. Glen and others want to get the word out as much as possible before it’s too late.
RECA was designed as a “non-adversarial alternative to litigation,” that didn’t require those filing claims to prove causation, according to the Department of Justice. It acknowledged the harmful fallout from the radiation. But it took the government decades to agree to offer people in Idaho compensation.
It’s a fight Tona Henderson knows all too well.
The long fight to include Idaho
Henderson, whose family has lived in Emmett since the late 19th century, has worked for more than two decades to get Idaho residents compensation.
Growing up, Henderson remembers a lot of people in her community getting cancer. At the time, she said, it was all she ever knew.
“When I was younger, it was kind of a given thing that if you didn’t die of old age, you died of a car wreck or you died of cancer,” she said. “There really wasn’t anything else.”
Her dad’s thyroid dissolved. Her mother had breast cancer. Her oldest brother had three bouts of cancer within eight months. Another brother had prostate cancer. Dozens of relatives who lived in Gem County during that time period also had cancer, she said. She hasn’t had it, but “it seems more likely than not,” she said.
In 2004, she read a series of articles in the local newspaper, the Messenger-Index. A woman featured in those articles, Sheri Garmon, suffered from five different types of cancer. After she read the series, Henderson realized what had happened to her community and why there was so much cancer. She said she spoke with the reporter and came up with an idea for an event to give people a platform to share their stories.
There, people were asked to raise their hands if they knew someone who had cancer. Then, people were told to raise two hands if they knew two people with cancer. People were then told to stand if they knew more than two people with cancer. Most rose from their seats with their hands raised, Henderson said.
The numbers were staggering.
Garmon spoke at the rally in 2004. She died the following year, and Henderson promised her that she wouldn’t stop fighting for Idaho residents. She kept her promise.
Henderson worked with a group of people in other areas, including Utah, New Mexico and Guam, to get more people included in RECA. And she found an ally in U.S. Sen. Mike Crapo, R-Idaho, who she said she fought alongside to get Idaho residents the compensation they deserved — sharing the stories of Idahoans far and wide, talking to lawmakers, working with other Idahoans and making sure people couldn’t ignore what had happened.
Crapo, who praised Henderson for her work, said he has advocated for years to make sure Idaho Downwinders were recognized and “treated fairly” under RECA.
“Many Idahoans suffered the same devastating consequences from Cold War-era nuclear testing as those in other states, yet they were incorrectly excluded from compensation due to an incomplete understanding of the science at the time,” he said in a statement to the Statesman.
Crapo praised those who have shared their stories about how they were affected by the tests, saying they contributed to Idaho Downwinders finally getting “the justice they deserve.”
“Central to the decades-long effort to amend RECA was elevating the voices of impacted Idahoans and making sure their experiences were supported by a scientific understanding that radioactive fallout does not stop at state lines,” he said.
‘I would pay money not to have cancer’
Henderson said her fight has always been driven by sadness about “what could have been” for those who got cancer. She’s been inspired to continue in honor of all the people who aren’t here anymore.
The compensation is “not going to pay for lost loved ones, lost body parts, medical expenses to speak of, but it is life-changing for a lot of people. Someone can pay for their medication that they couldn’t afford before. Someone can put a roof on their house,” she said. “Someone can take a trip that they never were able to.”
Mary McFarland, another Downwinder, said the compensation for her was the difference between retiring and having to continue working.
“I don’t need a lot of money to meet my needs,” she said, “and it’s made all the difference in the world.”
McFarland was born in Twin Falls in 1962 — making her one of the youngest Downwinders — and diagnosed with breast cancer in her 40s. She’s been cancer-free for 19 years.
McFarland had two mastectomies, chemo and radiation, she said. It was traumatic. “I actually ended up with the staph infection that one more day, my doctor said I would have been dead,” she said.
Her father died from esophageal cancer about 20 years ago. He never knew he was a Downwinder.
She, too, was angry when she found out.
“It’s obvious that our government put all of us at risk without much concern,” she said. “They had to know there were risks.”
The work isn’t over, though. Henderson said she’s trying to get the deadline extended beyond 2027. She’s also trying to get additional cancers added to the list of qualifying illnesses.
McFarland said she’s glad the compensation exists, but it’s still not enough for the harm caused.
“We were experimental species for our government, and they owe us more than this,” she said. “But this is at least acknowledging the wrong they did and maybe making things a little bit easier for some of the people in the country that were poisoned.”
Glen now lives in the Foothills. She regularly hikes and mountain bikes through the trails from her house. In December, she filed her claim for compensation. More recently, she filed a claim on behalf of her mother. It’s a nice acknowledgment, she said, and she knows it could be life-changing for some. But when given the choice between cancer and $100,000 or a cancer-free life, it’s an easy decision.
“Well, I would pay money not to have cancer,” she said.
How to get help
Application workshops on filing a claim will be held in Boise on May 1-2 at the Idaho State Museum in Julia Davis Park. People are asked to attend the sessions based on the last name of the person who became ill, but can attend at any time they need.
A–F: May 1, 9–11 a.m. G–L: May 1, 1–3 p.m. M–S: May 2, 9–11 a.m. T–Z: May 2, 1–3 p.m.
The qualifying diseases for Downwinders are: “leukemia (other than chronic lymphocytic leukemia), multiple myeloma, lymphomas (other than Hodgkin’s disease), and primary cancers of the: thyroid, male or female breast, esophagus, stomach, pharynx, small intestine, pancreas, bile ducts, gall bladder, salivary gland, urinary bladder, brain, colon, ovary, liver (except if cirrhosis or Hepatitis B is indicated, or lung,” according to the Department of Justice.
Henderson emphasized that people can fill out the forms on their own. She warned of scammers charging to help people file the claims. She also runs Facebook pages — Idaho Downwinders and Idaho Downwinders Support Group — where people can find support and ask questions.
Crapo’s office said people who need assistance can also contact one of the senator’s regional offices.
