168 number of regrettable aspects to the accident itself enhanced these criticisms."* The Rongelap people had not been moved to another location prior to the Bravo accident as they had been prior to the first atomic test at Operation Crossroads because no fallout problem was expected. In the confusion following the accident, the extent of the fallout was not at first realized, and evacuation of the exposed people was delayed. Evacuation of the Americans on Rongerik Atoll was carried out before the Marshallese were removed from their islands. Among thecriticisms that developed was the accusation that the United States had deliberately allowed the Marshallese people to be exposed to fallout to study the effects of radiation on human beings and that the people were being used as guinea pigs. This view was strengthened by the fact that routine medical care was the responsibility of the Trust Territories and not of the AEC or the periodically visiting teams. Thus, despite the fact that a large amountof routine care was delivered by the visiting medical experts, the aura of a purely research effort was difficult to dispel. The United States was suspected of not telling the whole story. Early releases tended to underplay the extent of the accident.’® Although ourfirst medical report was classified for a short while, subsequent reports were unclassified, and no attempts were madeto influence our medical group in any way concerning our reports. Subsequent AEC reports were also unclassified, and no attempt was made to hide data. However, the Commission was plagued with Marshallese suspicions about U.S. reports for some time. The medical team represented the American presence in the islands and were sometimes referred to as the "AEC doctors.” In spite of good rapport with and the cooperation of the people in the medical examinations, the team was also subject to some degree of suspicion. Bitterness among the Marshallese grew, not only about the effects of radiation they had suffered, but also about other factors affecting their lives. At the district centers, they lived in crowded, sometimes unhygienic conditions. They were exposed to an evolutionary process of Westernization imposed by the presence of the United States in the islands.*”’ They became dependent on subsidization and compensation money. They tended to lose their self-reliance and incentive to carry on their native skills. Rather than fish, it was easier to buy a can of tuna, the fish possibly caught in their own waters and processed in Japan. The influence of the news media was strong. A few examples are presented in References 11 to 18. When the Marshallese patients cameto the US. hospitals, radio, newspapers, magazinearticles, and even television gave them considerable coverage. The death of a young Rongelap man from leukemia strongly affected the people in the Marshall Islands. The journalist, Stewart Alsop, who was a patient in the hospital and a roommate of the young man, wrote several provocative articles about him.” The extensive publicity about the Marshallese Islanders no doubt impressed the affected people with the seriousness of their exposure andtheir plight as victims of the accident. Toa sett Ret NIIHi MOE Anite: Eris, aetige’ SES ABObtageERERERNEOE ne after the accident, a certain amount of secrecy existed, and early press