DESCRIPTIVE STUDY OF DEATHS FROM CANCER-ASSOCIATED WITH RESIDENTIAL PROXIMITY TO THE SITE OF UNDERGROUND NUCLEAR DETONATIONS

During the 1960s, two nuclear detonations were exploded in an undergro und salt dome in Lamar County, Mississippi. Citizens in this rural are a expressed concern about excess cancer among the residents as a resul t of exposure to tritium. Researchers initiated an epidemiologic inves tigation in response to these concerns. Investigators identified 2 251 deaths, of which 562 (25.7%) were cancer related. Observed cancer rat es for the area of Mississippi were no different than those expected f or the state as a whole. Investigators found no association between ca ncer mortality and distance from the center of detonation.