Leo M. Krulitz
October 30,71979
Page Eight
in the decisionmaking process which was based upon it.
As we have said, the AEC insisted that all questions of

radiological health and safety be resolved in terms of

radiation protection standards,

rather than the more

realistic basis of expected health effects from projected
doses of radiation.
See EIS, Vol. I, §§5.3.2 to 5.4;
and Vol.

II,

Tab B,

pp.

4-5.

This is not the place to

devote the attention it deserves to the question of the
relevance and utility of United States radiation protection
standards to the resettlement of Enewetak atoll.
You have our
"Radiation Protection: for Enewetak Atoll" and we are

working on a revised version which will incorporate the

risk estimates recently performed by our advisors.

Suffice

it to say herethatit is simply not possible for one to
make decisions in matters’ of this kind in terms of numerical
limits which are in themselves the result of one kind of

cost-benefit analysis of potential adverse health effects

weighed against known benefits of the use of radiation by
members of a large population.

But take. the Protective Action Guides,

for the sake of

discussion, and apply them to the case at hand.
The question
then becomes which will do the people of Enewetak more harm,
living at Enjebi or denial of that opportunity?
And a

closely related, extremely important question:

What will

do the people of Enewetak the greater harm, permitting
them to decide their own fate, or denying them that right?

When measured by the major concern which we all share,
that is the potentially adverse health effects of radiation
exposure, the risk today, if anything, is lower than in 1975,
when the predicted health effects contained in the EIS
(Vol. I, Tables 5-12 and 5-13), are compared with those
based upon the most recent dose assessment.

These are the facts essential to rational consideration of
and decision in this matter.
The most significant difference
between 1979 and 1975, is that the people of Enewetak are
now exercising their last chance to take a look at this

Matter.

They have made their own evaluation and called

upon you to reconsider.
The relevant facts, as set forth
in the EIS, are essentially the same today as they were in

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