United States Department of the Interior
AO389%
OFFICE OF THE SECRETARY
WASHINGTON, D.6—20240
US DOE ARCHIVES
326 U.S. ATOMIC ISISERGY
RG__epnoaeissION
Mr. Bryant S. Zzebedy
Clerk of the Marshall Islands Nitijela.
Post Office Box 24
Majuro, Marshall Islands
Dear Mr. Zebedy;
96960
Cdfirdion DesDea!Fiies
Box
13
Job
IR2b.
FolderMarshal{ Uslawds (979-140
I wish to acknowledge on behalf of Secretary Andrus, the
receipt of the certified copy of Resolution No.
15 N.D.-1 of
the Nitijela, "A Resolution requesting the Government of the
United States of America to immediately conduct a
radiological survey in the Marshall Islands."
I feel constrained to point out that paragraph 4 of this
resolution makes a very broad and
sweeping statement,
that
as far as I am aware of, is not borne out by recent
radiological data.
This is the statement, "Whereas, recent
radiological data, accumulated by the United States
Government indicates an extraordinarily high incidence of
apparently radiological induced physical disorders among
Marshallese residents, outside what was originally thought
to be the range of contamination caused by the nuclear
explosions at Bikini and Enewetak; particularly, on Likiep
Atoll and Wotje Atoll".
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Recently, when the Marshall Islands Political Status
Deleaqation was here in Washington, it raised this question
with respect to Likiep Atoll but the question rested not on
"recent radiological data accumulated by the United States",
but rather on data collected by a Marshall Islands Likiep
Survey team and presented to the Department of Energy and to
Our Department by the Secretary of Foreign Affairs for the
Marshall Islands Government, Mr. Anton DeBrum, at a meeting
here on May 16, 1979.
This Department and the Department of Energy assured
Mr. DeBrum that priority attention would be given to the
request that a medical survey
be conducted of the people of
Likiep Atoll.
BEST
AVAILABLE COPY
We will discuss the other aspects of the resolution,
the portions requesting a radiological
survey of the
Northern Marshalls, with tne Department of Energy.
appears
to me that most,
if not all,
i.e.,
It
of this request may
have been met by the recent radiological survey conducted on
cc:
(
,Dr.
Bruce Wachholz, DOE, with copy
of enclosure
/22