Item Detail
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28615
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0
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1
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English
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Living and Dying with Fallout
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Dialogue : A Journal of Mormon Thought
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Spring 2004
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37
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no.2
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1-35
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I can't prove that our illnesses were caused by exposure to fallout
from nuclear testing. Determining cause and effect is a problematic, incredibly
complex business, made more difficult by notoriously incomplete
record-keeping during the years of testing. But although direct
cause is nearly impossible to prove, the data have led many researchers to
conclude that there is a strong correlation between exposure to fallout
and cancer. What I keep running up against in my search for answers is
the dichotomy between the demand for conclusive scientific evidence
and the undeniable evidence of human experience, and I'm led to ask
why so many of my friends and neighbors got sick or died without explanation.
There could be other causes for our illnesses, and I can't say for
certain that they are radiation related, but it is true that for many years
all of us lived downwind. There is no denying our experience. This
much I have learned: No one can prove that exposure to radiation didn't
make us sick.