ST. LOUIS — More progress has been made for St. Louisians living with health complications due to nuclear contamination. The Radiation Exposure Compensation Act passed in Congress Thursday as part of the reconciliation bill, securing its largest expansion ever. 

The contamination came from work done in St. Louis dating back to the Manhattan Project. Dawn Chapman and Karen Nickel of Just Moms STL say the expansion comes after a decade of advocacy, but still needs improvements. 

“Our families won't benefit from it — we pushed for a program that's not going to help us, but it’s going to help people we know. But we also know that we created a brand new program," Chapman said. "This is a brand new RECA. It's expanded, and it also has the ability to have illnesses added to it in the future.”

Residents from the following ZIP codes are eligible:

63031, 63033, 63034, 63042, 63045, 63074, 63114, 63135, 63138, 63044, 63121, 63140, 63145, 63147, 63102, 63304, 63134, 63043, 63341, 63368, and 63367

Eligible Diseases/Cancers:

    •    Any leukemia (other than chronic lymphocytic leukemia), if initial exposure occurred after age 20, onset of disease was at least 20 years after first exposure.

    •    Multiple myeloma

    •    Lymphoma (other than Hodgkin’s disease)

    •    Primary cancer of the Thyroid, breast, Esophagus, Stomach, Small intestine, Pancreas, Bile ducts, Gallbladder, Salivary gland, Urinary bladder, Brain, Colon, Ovary, Liver, Lung, Bone and Kidney

“This isn't done for us,” Nickel said. “We intend on working and making this a better bill. We want additional illnesses added… that will be our goal.”

Those looking to learn more about the expanded policy can receive updates on Just Moms STL social media.