a ee ees
The fact that in the Marshall Islands thyroid cancer
is more prevalent in people exposed to lower than to higherlevels
of radiation is not widely knownin 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 suddenly after the
blast. depositing fallout on the inhabited islands. Admiral Lewis
Strauss of the Atomic Energy Com-
mission, at a press conference on his
retum from Bikini in 1954, said of
Bravo ’*. . . at no time was the testing out of control.’ He added. ‘"No
test is made without a definite pur-
pose and a careful determination that
is directed to an end result of major
importance... .°"'*
Nevertheless. within hours of
their exposure (at Rongelap, 175
rems. and at Utirik. 14 rems) the
people began to suffer from nausea
and severe itching of the skin: skin
burns and loss of hair occurred in the
following weeks. Since then. 19 out
cancer 1s 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 Utirik people to retum to their
atoll within six months of the Bravo
test in 1954 and the Rongelap people
after three years. Little radiological
cleanup was done oneitheratoll, but
both were declared safe despite
‘slight lingering radiation. "7?
Some 20 years later, the Depart-
ment of Energy has decided the islands were not safe. Shortly after the
northern Marshalls radiological survey wasfinished. Departmentof En-
ergy scientists went to Rongelap in
early 1979 and told the people that
the northern islands in their atoll,
which for the past 20 years they have
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,
barely a year old at the time of his
exposure in 1954, died of myelogen-
ous leukemia. A 1977 report by
Brookhaven states: ‘*Recently about
50° of the exposed Rongelap people
showed hypothyroidism without
clinical evidence of thyroid disease,
a finding that probably portends
trouble ahead."*'?
‘*For twentytwo years. the people
{of Utink] have heard Dr. Conard
and other doctors tell them not to
worry, that the dose of radiation received at the island was too lowto
cause any harmful effects.
However, it has become apparent
that the theory was wrong... .
There ts as much thyroid cancer at
Uurik as at Rongelap.’*?°
A 1976 Brookhaven annual report
confirmed the finding that thyroid
28
cases higher than, an island at Bikini.
Since the 1954 Bravo incident. the
United States has stated unequivocally that only the atolls of Bikini,
Enewetak. Rongelap and Utink were
contaminated during the weapons
tests. But in 1978, the Department of
Energy suddendly reversed itself
and reported: ‘‘In addition to
Enewetak. Bikini and Rongelap
Atolls, there are eleven other atolls
or single tslands that received inter-
mediate range fallout from one or
more of the megaton rangetests.""*3
One of these atolls in the northem
Marshalls is Likiep. According to a
careful report in the Micronesian In-
dependent, June 6, 1980:
“Out of 406 people who live in
Likiep. there are documented reports that list nine women who have
given birth to babies with severe
mental retardation, one woman who
had three ‘strange’ still born babies.
one ‘completely unrecognizable as
human.’ Also reported among
women on Likiep were ten other
babies that were not normal, a quite
high percentage of the population.""?4
No medical program exists for the
people from these islands, but the
list of miscarriages, deformed
babies. cancers, thyroid nodules and
environmental problems from supposedly unexposed atolls is steadily
growing. Because Brookhaven does
not examine people from these other
islands, the government has been
able to deny that any health problems exist on the grounds that there
are no dala.
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 ofthe pro-
gram was to be as broad as possible
to discoverall possible effects. .
Over the years, however, data from
vanous 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,
where the scientists expect effects to
occur. ’*?5
Much of the information con-
cerning low level radiation in the
Marshails is relevant to the United
States, in view of the uncertainty
surrounding Three Mile Island, mil-
itary personnel exposed to nuclear
tests. and so forth. The fact that in
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