5a
- C, Death of a man in the comparison group: #953, male, 47 years of
age, Died in July 1962 with acute asthmatic attack,
asthma,
He had a long history of
No autopsy was o>dtained,
During the past nine years since exposure, 9 deaths have occurred in the
exposed group,
This represents 12,2 deaths per 1000 compared with 8,3 per 1000
for the Marshall Islands as a whole in 1960,
The greater mortality in the exposed
Rongelap people may be related to the larger percentage of older people in the
group,
In regard to the death from cancer in the exposed woman, there is no
justification for establishing causal relationship with radiation exposure, in
view of the small number of people involved in this study, and the pausity of
vital statistics on malignancies in the Marshall Islands,
Births, miscarriages, stillbirths and neonatal deaths babies were born to exposed parents and 4 to unexposed parents,
Three healthy
The birth rate
in the exposed group parallels fairly closely that in the unexposed group,
One
neonatal death (one month) due to infant diarrhea occurred in a twin born to
exposed parents,
A stillbirth (full term) with congenital abnormalities (ectro.
melus) was born to exposed parents,
Since this anomaly is not too uncomnon, it
is not possible to incriminate radiation exposure in view of obvious statistical
difficulty,
Utirik.
records,
It was difficult to get accurate demographic data due to poorly kept
It appeared, however, that during the past four years, since last
examined, the people of Utirik have been generally free of major epidemics of
disease,
Several bouts of dysentery-type diarrhea occurred involving a dozen or
so people on each occasion, but therapy with penicillin was effective,
sickness from eating improperly prepared arrow-root starch was reported,
five deaths had occurred in older paople from pneumonia,
diarrhea,
Six infant deaths were recorded,
Some
About
skin infections, and
There did not appear to have been any
unusual illness or deaths and the birth rate appeared to be about the same as had
been previously noted.