Navajo Uranium Workers and the Effects of Occupational Illnesses: A Case Study

Fifty-five Navajo uranium workers and residents from the Navajo Reservation in Arizona and New Mexico were interviewed in a community study to determine the psychosocial effects of uncompensated occupational illnesses. Summary findings indicate that psychological trauma, resulting from long-term occupational illnesses and environmental degradation, was as serious a repercussion as physical trauma from work-related exposures. The perceptions of Navajo workers, their families, and residents are presented with regard to the uranium mining and milling processes which occurred on the reservation between the 1940s and the 1980s. Because the workers and residents were never informed about the dangers of radiation, they were not able to make rational decisions regarding their health and employment; consequently, they felt a sense of betrayal by both the government and their employers. A reduction in the incidence of occupational illnesses and death among the Navajo may have occurred had prevention and detection been provided. Moreover, unique Navajo cultural beliefs and economic factors also impacted whether or not workers and families accessed health, legal, and social services.