WASHINGTON (Reuters) - At least 15,000 cancer deaths in the United States were probably caused by radioactive fallout from Cold War nuclear weapons tests worldwide, according to portions of a government study made public on Thursday by USA Today.
The Health and Human Services Department study, which has not been published yet, also suggested 20,000 nonfatal cancers among U.S. residents born after 1951 could be linked to fallout from aboveground weapons tests, the paper said.
USA Today said the study showed far more fallout than previously known reached the United States from nuclear tests done in the former Soviet Union and on several Pacific Islands by the United States and Britain.
Fallout from U.S. tests in Nevada also spread substantial amounts of radioactivity across a broad band of the country, the paper said.
When fallout from all domestic and foreign tests was combined, no U.S. resident born after 1951 escaped exposure, according to the study.
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