“Unraveling the Mysteries: How Fire, Ice, and Plutonium Could Redefine Our Understanding of the Universe”
In 1995, another study found that of 1,500 former Thule cleanup workers sampled, 410 had died of cancer. In response, the Danish government paid 1,700 workers compensation of 50,000 kroner – around $7,000 American – each. However, all subsequent attempts to obtain compensation from the Danish government have failed, with a 2011 report by the Danish Board of Health concluding that:
“…the total radiation dose for representative persons in the Thule area for plutonium contamination resulting from the 1968 Thule accident is lower than the recommended reference level, even under extreme conditions and situations.”
But the workers and their representatives are not convinced, with Jens Zieglersen, head of the Association of Former Thule Workers, stating:
“I think it’s a cover-up. We are getting older and the Danish authorities and the Danish government will wait and keep their mouths sealed for another 15, 20 years; then there’s no-one left that remembers and who was a part of the accident back in the days of ’68.”
But perhaps the worst-affected by the 1968 Thule Crash were the Greenland Inuit who live around the Air Base, and who rendered such valuable service during the cleanup operations. Despite the claims of the Danish and American governments, the Inuit have noticed higher rates of cancers and other radiation-related illnesses among their people and the animals they subsist on, with local hunter Ussaaqqak Qujaukitsoq stating:
“There were two times when I hunted, when the seal’s insides were dried out. Something must have happened to them…If we think about the walruses and the other birds that have eating grounds on the bottom of the ocean, we will see the impact of it.”
