The fact that in the Marshail Islands thyroid cancer
is more prevalent in people exposed to lower than to higherlevels
of radiation is not widely known in the United States.
nearby Rongelap and Utink atolls.
were severely contaminated with
ash-like fallout.
For many years people have debated whether or not the Marshal-
lese were deliberately exposed. The
official position is that upper level
winds changed suddenlyafter the
blast. depositing fallout on the inhabited islands. Admiral Lewis
Strauss of the Atomic Energy Com-
cancer is actually more prevalent in
the people who received low level
exposure than in the high level
group.?!
A questionable decision by the
Atomic Energy Commission allowed
the Utink people to return to their
atoll within six months of the Bravo
test in 1954 and the Rongelap people
Some 20 years later, the Depart-
babies. cancers, thyroid nodules and
environmental problems from supposedly unexposed atolls is steadily
cleanup was done on either atoll, but
both were declared safe despite
“slight lingering radiation.’*22
their exposure (at Rongelap, 175
rems. and at Utirik. 14 rems) the
the northern tslands in their atoll,
which for the past 20 years they have
ment of Energy has decided the islands were not safe. Shortly after the
northem Marshalls radiological sur-
vey was finished. Department of En-
Nevertheless. within hours of early 1979 and told the people that
used for food gathering, were too
radioactive to visit. Moreover, the
Department of Energy survey shows
that islands in Rongelap—only 125
of 22 children exposed on Rongelap miles from Bikini—have radiation
have had surgery for removal of levels at least equal to, and in some
thyroid nodules. In 1972 a youth. cases higher than, an tsland at Bikini.
barely a year old at the time of his
exposure in 1954. died of myelogen-
Since the 1954 Bravo incident, the
ous leukemia. A 1977 report by
United States has stated unequivocally that only the atolls of Bikini,
a finding that probably portends
contaminated during the weapons
tests. But in 1978, the Department of
Energy suddendly reversed itself
and reported: “‘In addition to
Brookhaven states: ‘““Recently about
50% of the exposed Rongelap people
showed hypothyroidism without
clinical evidence of thyroid disease,
trouble ahead.”*'’
tion.” "+4
No medical program exists for the
people from these tslands, but the
ergy scientists went to Rongelap in
burns and loss of hair occurred in the
following weeks. Since then. 19 out
babies that were not normal, a quite
high percentage of the popula-
after three years. Little radiological
mission. at a press conference on his
return from Bikini in 1984, said of
Bravo *’. . . at no time was the testing out of control."” He added. “*No
test 1s made without a definite purpose and a careful determination that
is directed to an end result of major
Importance....°"'*
people began to suffer from nausea
and severe itching of the skin: skin
had three ‘strange’ still born babies,
one ‘completely unrecognizable as
human.’ Also reported among
women on Likiep were ten other
Enewetak, Rongelap and Utink were
Enewetak, Bikini and Rongelap
Atolls, there are eleven other atolls
list of miscarriages, deformed
growing. Because Brookhaven does
not examine people from these other
islands, the government has been
able to deny that any health prob-
lems exist on the grounds that there
are no data.
Even on Utirik and Rongelap.
Brookhaven has taken an extremely
narrow view of the problems, according to Kotrady. In his 1977 cn-
tique he said:
**The orginal purpose of the program wasto be as broad as possible
to discover all possible effects. .
Over the years, however, data from |
various sources and opinions of ex-
perts have assessed what long term
effects should be found in the
people. Thus the program seems to
Operate in a mode of looking for
those effects predicted by experts.
... It tends to focus on specific
areas, such as the thyroid and blood,
wherethe scientists expect effects to
occur."**5
[of Uurik] have heard Dr. Conard
or single islands that received tntermediate range fallout from one or
cerning low level radiation in the
cause any harmful effects.
Oneofthese atolls in the northem
Marshalls is Likiep. According to a
careful report in the Micronesian In“Out of 406 people wholive in
tests, and so forth. The fact that in
**For twentytwo years, the people
and other doctors tell them not to
worry. that the dose of radiation received at the island was too lowto
However, it has become apparent
that the theory was wrong... .
There is as much thyroid cancer at
Utink as at Rongelap.”*?°
A 1976 Brookhaven annual report
confirmed the finding that thyroid
28
more of the megaton range tests.'"*?
dependent, June 6, 1980:
Likiep, there are documented re-
ports that list nine women who have
given birth to babies with severe
mental retardation, one woman who
Much of the information con-
Marshalls is relevant to the United
States, in view of the uncertainty
surrounding Three Mile Island, mil-
itary personne! exposed to nuclear
the Marshalls thyroid cancer is more
prevalent in people exposed to lower
than to higher levels of radiation ts
not widely known in the United