WASHINGTON — Congressman James Moylan has introduced the Parity for Pacific Radiation Survivors Act, legislation that would amend the Radiation Exposure Compensation Act to extend federal recognition and compensation eligibility to Guam residents exposed to nuclear fallout from U.S. weapons testing in the Pacific.
The bill would update RECA to designate Guam as a downwinder area, extend qualifying exposure periods to reflect the full documented timeline of fallout reaching the island, and add renal disease to the list of compensable conditions. The changes would allow eligible Guam residents who developed qualifying illnesses to apply for federal compensation consistent with benefits already provided to other downwind communities.
Federal and declassified reports confirm that Guam was exposed to radioactive fallout from 67 atmospheric nuclear tests conducted in the Marshall Islands between 1946 and 1962.
“Our community has waited generations for the federal government to acknowledge what the science has already shown,” Moylan said. “I have fought for this from day one, and I will continue fighting until Guam is fully included and justice is delivered to our survivors and their families.”
Moylan also acknowledged the Pacific Association for Radiation Survivors, its members and President Robert Celestial for their collaboration with his office and their longstanding advocacy on behalf of Guam’s radiation survivors.
Guam Senator Therese Terlaje joined Moylan in calling for the legislation. “It is unjust that the U.S. Congress excluded the cancer patients of Guam from RECA coverage,” Terlaje said. “Our people suffer the same pain as those in other U.S. jurisdictions as a result of radiation exposure from U.S. nuclear testing. It is both just and urgent that the United States Congress extend federal resources and recognition to the U.S. citizens of Guam who were directly impacted.”
Moylan said the bill is also an obligation to those who spent years fighting for recognition and did not live to see it. “Many of those who first raised their voices about radiation exposure are sadly no longer with us,” he said. “We owe it to them, and to every family still carrying this burden, to finish what they started and secure the recognition they never lived to see.”
