RMI Nuclear Justice Documents

52

with marked growth retardation (Nos. 3 and 35).
Ty levels before surgery were lower in subjects exposed in childhood than in unexposed controls.
Subjects exposed as adults who developedeither
benign or malignant thyroid lesions did not show
notable impairment of thyroid function. The
serum iodine levels of exposed and unexposed
people for the past 15 years are given in Appendix 8.
In 1965, the rates of urine and thyroid accumulation of 132T were measured over a 4-hr period in

21 Rongelap subjects, of whom 9 were unexposed

and 12 were exposed as adults.18 The data are
summarized in Table 26. Compared with North
American normal values obtained in 196318

(urine, Ag: =2; thyroid, Ag; =1; thyroid fraction

=0.33), both the exposed and unexposed Marshallese showed slow urine and thyroid transfer
rates of extrathyroid iodide but a high thyroid fraction. Similar studies done in 1972 on 12 Rongelapese without detectable thyroid abnormalities,

Table 28
Thyroid Status of Exposed Rongelap Subjects Without Recognized Thyroid Lesions, 1974

Subject No.
and sex

Age
(1974)

Plasma T,, pe/dl

Pre-TSH

24 hr post-TSH

Increment*

Plasma TSH,**
pU/ml

6.9
6.8
4.7
4.5
9.2
6.5

7.8
8.3
5.3
5.3
12.8
8.7

0.9
15
0.6
0.8
3.6
2.2

7.0
3.9
2.1
45
<b0
4.4

3.9
3.5
1.9
2.0
32

4.4
6.3
3.1
2.6
5.1

5.0
2.2
2.4
1.6
3.9
4.2
1.6
0.8
1.0
2.0
0.9
2.4
3.6

3.2
39
3.1
6.0
1.5
2.3
4.7
88
3.0
3.4
3.8
70
2.3
1.4
3.9
3.0
2.7
2.7
4.2
5.3
6.3
2.7

4M
6M
7M
9M
10M
12F

58
21
56
42
44:
38

24F
34 F
35 M
37 M
39 F

33
65
33
40
35

8.2
7.1
5.9
4.6
8.3

12.1
10.6
7.8
6.6
11.5

48 F
51 F
66 F
68 M
70 F
73M
76M
78 F
80 M
B81 F
82 M
83 M
85 M
1F
11M
14F
22 F
27M
44M
58 F
63 F
67 F

26
45
52
64
35
38
31
57
66
28
70
20
20
74
70
45
37
36
24
79
56
34

7.2
6.9
7.0
8.9
7.9
7.8
5.4
6.3
8.1
5.8
5.8
6.2
7.8
5.1
68
6.7
35
75
58
8.2
82
7.4

12.2
9.1
9.4
10.4
11.8
12.0
7.0
7.1
9.1
7.8
6.7
8.6
11.4

32M
47M

24
28

16M

41M

71F

Mean + S.D.

59

64

48

6.4

6.0

8.3

9.4

1.9

3.4

4.2

*Normalin 13 Pittsburgh subjects: 4.7 1.0 pg/dl.&

4.4

185
9.1
14.4

16.7
21.7
18.4

18.6
25.5
21.2

10.3

75
8.4

6.61.7

5.3

TBG-

binding capacity,
pg T,/dl

<1.0
7.0
2.35412
**Measured in pre-TSH samples. Normal is <5 pU/m!.