. ~ a ars Or “Sey 7. wb .. D rarshall Is., ¢ 77° * Jul; A 12, . io Cc AOsO0B6 BEST COPY AVAILABLE Juan -.leedl Civil Lasi.ts Comittee Departrant of cealth, cducaticn a.i welfare Re-ion Li 12°° tarket St. Can rreneisco, © 1, | jut le 1878 941C2 PROGRAM REVIEW & MANAGEMENT Deur iir, alceci: SUPPORT DIVISION OFFICE FOR CIVIL RIGHTS/REGION IX/SF turite to you concerning croplens in the wersicll -slands of --icronesia thet nave been caucad by tlhe United Stetes in violation of the United lations frusteeclip Agreenat and to asi: for your Belp. 2c iars allese, prese:tl; attending a universit: in Nawaii and my vermerne:n:. residerce is cr tie islord of Zieye, fwwjalein atoll. ai tlio Lutter 1 an ;cinp to address some of the problems fecins pecrle lerc as & result of the Uo. nuclear testi: :rozram. As vou are wideuotedi: aware, t © U.c. sinned vic united cutio.s Trustees ip -greenert in 147, wie! is tindine on america ©2 accicictering aut orit» of th.islands. Te Agreement statec the Uo. fs res oriiuhe "srotect the nealth cf t' inhabitants" and to "pretect t.e inlebitants acainst tre loss of t eir land and resources." ast two ma nv a pecrle on t.¢ vroo. bomb tests. months travelling threughou. the -ars:clis - to t.¢ tolis t at can onl: be reached by cost - intervievinr differnt a L: .ere cre “sve experienced &scm tlhe radioactive Srllove ore: tle -e things I have learned: ior to t..e first test series of "low yield" atemic bombs at Sikini residents cf icngelap an2 nearcy atclls were evacuated as a precaution. <isht vears. later, wen Bravo was detcnated - the largest bomb ever excloded al-ove ground (7°0 tines Laeger than earlier testc) - none cf the people were evecuated and several Sundrel were ceriousl; coctaninated wit! snow like fallout on Zongelarc and Ltiirik. americ: © rudiavion nonitcring cerse:nel on an atoll close to Aenrela;s were evacurted s ortly arter t e test, but the Rongelap reople were not evacuated Tor sore than 45 hours, thus compounding theri radiation problems. * In 1657 (three years efter the Bravo shot), with no extensive radiological surveys conducted, the peo l=: of Rongelap were told by the Atomic <nersr ~ori-dssion thet their atoll wes safe for re. abitation "desrite slicnt lingering redioactivity" and allowed to return nome, rcllowing a court suit in 1975 which forced the AEC/ Dept. of snercy to do 2 radiolc-ical survey of the northern tars clls, tie DC='s 197E report shows that Xenzelap !as, on some islands, radiation levels close to Sikini's, are = tests were conducted. Bikini has been declared unlivable for ~€0-10C veers. espitc the AcC's cssurernces of Eongelap's safetp, t = pec: le have been livin? on a conteminated atoll for more than 20 years. « The vecple of Utiril: were also contaminated by Zravo, but with abouth 1/19 Accordingly, the AEC rea:sured then. continually tnat trey of the Aongelap dose. whee and weulé ‘ivi no preblems - |.owever, in 1977 there wes a sudden junp in tne cancer reorle. Roncelzp cnyroid proble:. S equalling taa of the much more heavily exposed The am#rican doctors admitted they had been completely wrong in their predictions “ tm aor te tag HM. ote . . . os cat2 _ ty a we . , . . ” oe oe, . pecs . oe . . : ~