Downwinders

Downwinders were individuals and communities, in the United States, in the intermountain West between the Cascade and Rocky Mountain ranges primarily in Arizona, Nevada, New Mexico, and Utah but also in Oregon, Washington, and Idaho who were exposed to radioactive contamination or nuclear fallout from atmospheric or underground nuclear weapons testing, and nuclear accidents. Although, when the term first originated, it mainly referred to the affected peoples near the Nevada Test Site (NTS), but the label has since expanded to include people experiencing negative effects of radiation in places outside of the United States borders like the Marshall Islands.

More generally, the term can also include those communities and individuals who are exposed to ionizing radiation and other emissions due to the regular production and maintenance of coal ash, nuclear weapons, nuclear power, nuclear waste, and geothermal energy. In regions near U.S. nuclear sites, downwinders may be exposed to releases of radioactive materials into the environment that contaminate their groundwater systems, food chains, and the air they breathe. Some downwinders may have suffered acute exposure due to their involvement in uranium mining and nuclear experimentation.

Several severe adverse health effects, such as an increased incidence of cancers, thyroid diseases, CNS neoplasms, and possibly female reproductive cancers that could lead to congenital malformations, have been observed in Hanford, Washington, "downwind" communities exposed to nuclear fallout and radioactive contamination. The impact of nuclear contamination on an individual is generally estimated as the result of the dose of radiation received and the duration of exposure, using the linear no-threshold model (LNT). Sex, age, race, culture, occupation, class, location, and simultaneous exposure to additional environmental toxins are also significant, but often overlooked, factors that contribute to the health effects on a particular "downwind" community.

Recent research has expanded the reach of the experience of the Downwinders to include the fallout following the Nevada Test Site nuclear testing in the 1950s, including the generational impacts, the ongoing contamination, and the delays of federal government acknowledgment of liability. Studies by such authors as Sarah Alisabeth Fox and Philip L. Fradkin show how the oral histories from the communities of the Western United States provide information on the prevalence of Thyroid disease, Leukemia, and Autoimmune disease.More recently, the history of the fallout, as shown by various environmental histories, indicates that it continues to impact the politics of Nuclear testing and compensation programs well into the 21st century.