present author during the winter 1961-1962 (Fig.2). With this mobile counter
groups of one to two hundred Lapps were counted four times in 1962-1964. 250
Lapps , a representative sample of the whole Finnish Lapp population (Fig.3),
were selected from church registers by a random sampling method in spring 1962,
and about one half of the same @roup
was taken for the later studies. The
results from the Inari region (reindeer breeders. and reindeer breeding fishers)
are presented in Table III. Dietary [22/, medical, and clinical studies
{23,247 were also included in the investigation carried out in May, 1962.
The full results of this investigation will soon be published.
As can be seen from Table iit, the Inari Lapps” body content of tTos
shows a similar (although not so large) seasonal variation as that of the rein-
deer. This is mainly due to the fact that the consumption of reindeer meat is
very low in the Finnish Lapp areas in summer compared with that in winter (less
than 1/10th), and to a lesser extent to the lower 137Cs content of reindeer meat
in the summer,
A steady increase of body burdens, too,
is noticeable from Table III. The
percentage increase compared with May 1962-values is given after the figures for
“63 and “64, The increase is greatest in the southern Finns (=control group), who
do not consume reindeer meat regularly, and less pronounced with increasing pro-
portion of reindeer meat in the diet. This is understandable as lichens and reindeer remained relatively radioactive throtghout the test moratorium. The maximal
individual value was in April °’64 in males 2.66 pe, in fenales 1.01 pe. The
"maximal permissible concentration" of Ios in individual of the general popu-
lation is 3 mic according to ICRP /35_/. None of the individuals studied has yet
exceeded this level, but the highest value, 2.66 me is very close to it. The
present average body burden of the adult Finnish Lapps, males, 890 nc, corresponds to an annual total body radiation dose of about SO mrem, the corresponding
figures for adult females being 400 ne and 45 mrem/y with due allowance in both
cases to the lower body burden in summer.
Large groups of Swedish Lapps were studied in April 1962 and 1963 {25/
by portable whole body counters. The Swedish Lapps, (males, age group 21 to 40
years) contained an average of 490 ne os in April “63, the corresponding
value at Inari being 646, The increase in Sweden from “62 to °63, 26 percent,
was very Similar to that of Inari Lapps. Only one group of Alaskan Eskimos,
those Living in Anaktavuk Pass, had a 13To5 body content closely comparable with
that of Lapps, the males having 474 ne compared with 496 ne at Inari, At
Anaktavuk. Pass, caribou meat is reported to constitute a major part of the diet
“yt