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Articles by Mark Olalde

Mark Olalde is an American University Fellow at The Center for Public Integrity

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This story was originally published by ProPublica.

The “death map” tells the story of decades of sickness in the small northwest New Mexico communities of Murray Acres and Broadview Acres. Turquoise arrows point to homes where residents had thyroid disease, dark blue arrows mark cases of breast cancer, and yellow arrows mean cancer claimed a life.

Neighbors built the map a decade ago after watching relatives and friends fall ill and die. Dominating the top right corner of the map, less than half a mile from the cluster of colorful arrows, sits what residents believe is the cause of their sickness: 22.2 million tons of uranium waste left over from milling ore to supply power plants and nuclear bombs.

Neighbors created the “death map” to highlight cancer cases in New Mexico’s Murray Acres and Broadview Acres communities. Image courtesy of Candace Head-Dylla. Graphic composition by Mauricio Rodriguez Pons/ProPublica.

“We were sacrificed a long time ago,” said Candace Head-Dylla, who created the death map with her mother after Head-Dylla had her thyroid removed and her mother developed breast cancer. Research has linked bot... Read more

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