Lekoj "was found to be healthy." However, during this survey he was taken into
Majuro with the team because of the low cell count and there another blood test
- was given.
Rongelap.

This second one showed the count even lower than it had been on
Arrangements were then made to take him to Tripler Army Hospital in

Honolulu, where attempts to get a “successful bone marrow examination" failed
and "we decided to take him back to Brookhaven National Laboratory,' '

to Dr. Conard.

according

There the diagnosis of acute myelogenous leukemia was determined

after which arrangements were made to have Lekoj treated at the National Cancer
Institute,

Clinical Center in Bethesda, Maryland, where he was taken on

October 3, 1972.
15,

There, on the thirteenth floor of Building No. Ten, on November

1972, 18 years and seven months after his exposure, Lekoj Anjain died of

pneumonia during "attempts to induce remission of his leukemia," according to a
BNL release of the following day.
This is the first such case of this type of blood cancer to appear in any
of the Marshallese or Japanese exposed to "Bravo's" fallout.
Single incident,

Whether it is a

related or unrelated to exposure to ionizing radiation from

fallout, ‘cannot be stated for certain.

Future findings,

or the lack of such,

will undoubtedly be the determining factor. Needless to say, because of the
higher incidence of leukemia in Japanese exposed to atomic bombs,

the situation

bears watching with the most careful attention.

Miscellaneous Considerations
Since the inception and carrying out of the regular annual surveys of the
Rongelapese and biannual and triannual surveys of the Utirik people, certain
difficulties connected with the examinations have been noted in the BNL reports.

11?

G50 0335

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