New Mexico residents to testify on atomic bomb fallout

ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. (AP) – Residents of a New Mexico Hispanic village near the site of the world’s first atomic bomb test are expected to share their stories with Congress.

The Tularosa Basin Downwinders Consortium is scheduled to travel to Washington, D.C., this week and testify before the U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee about the effects of the Trinity Test on generations of Tularosa residents.

Members of the consortium say many who lived in the area weren’t told about the dangers and were diagnosed with rare forms of cancer. They say they want acknowledgment and compensation from the U.S. government.

Scientists working in the then-secret city of Los Alamos developed the atomic bomb as part of the Manhattan Project. The bomb was tested in a stretch of desert near towns with Hispanic and Native American populations.