radioiodine and remove
loose material
from the decks;
(c)
the
principal sources of internal absorption would have been from
ingestion, but since food and water were protected this source of
absorption must have been negligible.
A few words about internal absorption of piutonium.,
The Marshallese
were exposed to a much greater hazard from this source than
CROSSROAD personnel,
I
just received word that on the basis of
sensitive urine tests recently developed at Brookhaven National
Laboratory the Marshallese people had only absorbed plutonium in
amounts that were 1/100 to 1/200 of the maximum permissible body
burden and that based on 50 years of exposure the dose to the bone
would have been very low.
As an atomic veteran this is very
reassuring to me.
With regard to genetic effects we have not detected any increase in
abnormalities in children of exposed Marshallese parents.
greater
Of
importance are the results of studies of thousands of
Japanese children whose parents received hundred of rads of
radiation.
Some of the best geneticists in the worid have studied
these children and have found no increase in abnormalities that
could be attributed to radiation exposure of the parents.
Therefore
it seems extremely unlikely that genetic abnormalities from
radiation exposure would be detected in children of CROSSROADS
personnel.