Report Claims Simi Valley Nuclear Meltdown Has Been Causing Cancer For Decades

Experts now believe radioactive emissions from a nuclear accident in California are the likely cause for the majority of cancer cases in Simi Valley.

A 1959 accident at a nuclear research laboratory and chemicals left over from rocket testing at the facility seem to have had a much greater impact on the soil and water supplies than previously thought.

A new study now says the meltdown, which was only made public in 1979, caused an estimated 260 to 1,800 cases of cancer "over a period of many decades."

A report published in the Los Angeles Times about Rocketdyne's Santa Susana Field Laboratory, studied the area for five years, and was conducted by an independent team of experts.

However, according to the Times, "This lack of candor .. makes characterization of the potential health impacts of past accidents and releases extremely difficult."

Dan Hirsch, a physicist and co-chairman of the advisory panel, which oversaw the report, adds, "The pattern of secrecy and misrepresentation that began at the time of the accident continues to this day, where sloppy practices are done under a cover of darkness."