Atomic farmer is a well-written account of the life of a by downwinder family and neighbors in the Palouse Hills of eastern Washington state. TO downwinder is a person who lived in the area where iodine-131, the nuclear waste from the Hanford Nuclear Reserve, was released in the late 1940s through 1950s. After the passage of the Freedom of Information and Information Act the Spokesperson Review He began to investigate the emissions and compared them with the wind patterns, this information was available to the general population.
This by downwinder The story is open, honest, and full of great examples of character development. Author Teri Hein paints a picture of life in small-town farming communities in eastern Washington. She covers hills, harvest time, wheat, Steptoe Butte, loess, bird hunting, small schools, churches, soccer, basketball, baseball, parades, horses and the list goes on – joyous memories of growing up in a little farming community. However, an impending betrayal began to emerge. First, his father, then a neighboring child, another childhood friend, a neighboring mother, and the list grew over two decades. These people, the ones he 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’s lymphoma, and more. Finally, 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. His 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 bisected by that line, a line that also represents the prevailing southwest winds. The experience of my neighborhood is congruent with that of Teri’s neighborhood.
One cold winter morning in the mid-1950s we woke up to a freshly fallen layer of snow. It was dotted with beautiful pink spots like a miracle, but it was not from nature, nor from heaven. I think it was one of the many radioactive toxin releases from the Hanford Nuclear Reserve. Let’s play in that snow, we made angels and snowmen. Within a 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 best friend John Rogers, and three of the four Byrum brothers died of cancer, long before their time. Consequently, Teri’s account is deeply moving to me. Although I knew some of her older friends, I never knew Teri Hein, but I feel like I’ve known her my whole life. Teri opens her soul to the world and exposes all her nerves.
I highly recommend it Atomic Farmgirl: Growing Up in the Wrong Place. Everyone should be aware of this tragedy.
