WASHINGTON - I've been breaking bad news to suffering Utahns. Because of the "Toxic Utah" series the Deseret News published last week, many e-mailed me saying they believe they are downwind cancer victims of atomic bomb tests in the 1950s - and they want to know how to apply for government compensation.

 I believe most indeed are victims, but they don't qualify for compensation under current law. Worse, the law likely will never change because of some unfortunate political situations. Here's a letter typical of many I received the past week (I've taken out the name):

 "Good article on the downwinder issue. My wife was diagnosed with thyroid cancer about 10 years ago. She was born in 1937 and the doctor in California asked her if she lived in Utah or Nevada. . . .

 "(She) was born in Draper, Utah. Her father was a dairy farmer and raised and milked his own cows. They, of course, drank raw milk. (Note: fallout radiation often entered the human food chain via milk from cows who ate radioactive-contaminated grass and feed. Raw milk was more contaminated than pasteurized milk.).

 "Her family made many trips to southern Utah to visit family and friends. . . . We are wondering if (she) has a claim and, if so, how do we go about filing for a claim as a downwinder. We are convinced that the downwinder situation is true."

 I wrote back saying that as the law now stands, she does not qualify for the $50,000 that some downwinders may receive. To qualify, people must prove that they have a qualifying type of cancer (thyroid is one of many) and that they were a residents (not just visitors) of a relatively few counties in southern Utah, Nevada or Arizona. Atomic tests were conducted only when the wind was blowing toward Utah - and qualifying counties were those most close to the tests.

 Salt Lake County is NOT among qualifying areas - even though Energy Department maps obtained by the Deseret News show that the heavily populated area was actually hit with more fallout than some southern Utah areas that do qualify.

 Sen. Orrin Hatch, R-Utah, and former Rep. Wayne Owens, D-Utah, who created the compensation program in 1990, have said many areas they believed should have been eligible for compensation could not be included - because it would have made the overall program too expensive and would have killed it for everyone.

 Expanding the program now may be even more difficult. That's because a National Cancer Institute study a few years ago concluded that every county in America was hit with at least some fallout from the atomic tests. If the program is expanded to include, say, Salt Lake County or southern Idaho (two hard-hit areas), virtually every other county in America could also clamor to be included. That would be considered too expensive, and would block expansion - and could even threaten survival of the current program.

 (Hatch, however, last year did add some more cancers to the list and made qualifying easier. But the compensation program is currently out of money and is awaiting more funding from Congress.)

 I can relate to the frustration of downwinders. My dad died of multiple myeloma - a once rare cancer that has claimed many Utahns I knew (including former Gov. Scott Matheson).

 My dad bought a new house in Kearns in Salt Lake County in 1952. I imagine him and many of our neighbors working outside landscaping their new homes during the era of upwind atomic tests. I am amazed at how many in the neighborhood died of cancer.

 My dad - as well as many of our relatives - also occasionally had helped with a family sheep-shearing business in the western desert. I remember my uncle Art talking about how one yellowish fallout cloud produced rain that killed thousands of just-sheared sheep. Most of the sheep-shearers and ranchers that tried to help them later died of cancer, including Art. They were not full-time residents of eligible counties - so they and their survivors never qualified for compensation.

 They were likely victims of U.S. Cold War testing. But don't expect the government to acknowledge that - or to pay for it. Politics and money are in the way.

Deseret News Washington correspondent Lee Davidson can be reached by e-mail at lee@desnews.com