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