HAGÅTÑA — During a public hearing on Resolution 127, Pacific Association of Radiation Survivors President Robert Celestial said radioactive elements could still be present in Guam’s land and water.
The resolution seeks to petition the U.S. Congress to amend the Radiation Exposure Compensation Act to include Guam and to increase compensation for those affected by radiation.
Responding to a question directed to him at the public hearing, Celestial said a Washington University report he submitted to the National Academy of Science stated that from 1974, testing done on Guam fruit, animals, land and water indicated high levels of cesium, strontium, and plutonium.
Although the tests were done almost four decades ago, the half-life of radioactive isotopes is 30 years. A half-life describes the decay of entities such as radioactive atoms.
“So if you add 30 years more to 1974, it goes more. That is why our younger children are being exposed and that is why they are getting sick,” Celestial said.
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