ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. (AP) — After years of study, the National Cancer Institute says some people probably got cancer from the radioactive fallout that wafted across New Mexico after the U.S. government detonated the first atomic bomb in 1945. However, the exact number is unknown.
Researchers said in studies released Tuesday that it’s impossible to know if New Mexico’s cancer rates changed in the first decades after the test, given the lack of data. They did conclude that whatever excess cancer cases did arise would have been limited to those alive at the time and that effects on those born later would be too small to expect additional cases.