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!.