Gut Jonnson, a tree ianee writer wae has traveled extensively
througnout the Pacisic, edits the Micronesia Buiietin
pualisned in Honolulu, Hawan 96826,
habuation. the levels of activity are
higher than those found in other in-
habited locations in the warid. The
nabitation of these peopie on the island will afford most saiuable
ecological radiation data cn human
peings.”
‘
i:
‘
tually going to Rongelap and Utink.
the team examined exposed people
in the district center of Mayoro. The
Japanese report stated:
Even at the outset of irs medical
treatment program, the a&c seemed
willing to expenment with the exscesed Marshallese isianders.
Up to !9§83 the incidence of stillbirths and miscaimases in the excosed Rongelap women was more
“The people of Rongelap who were
not exposed to fallout. recetved a
considerable amount of radioactive
nuclides from the environment.
Consequently, the ‘unexposed’
group actually became an ‘exposed’
group... it Was a great mistake to
permit the people of Rongelap to retur to their island in July 1957 without sutficient work having been done
Marshallese women.
the island.”
Laborator¥ report (prepared for the
\EC) showed that arter the exposed
Rongelap people returned to their isand in 1987 thetr bouv burden of
radigactivity rapidly increased. In
°S61 their body levels of radioactive
In 1972. Lekoy Anjain. who had
been onlya year eld at the time of his
exposure in 1984. died of mvyelogenous leukemia at the National Cancer Institute in Bethesda, Marviand.
than twice the rate of unexposed to remove radioactive pollution trom
In !961. a Brookhaven National
The Atomic Energy Commission
cestum had risen 60-fold. zinc rose has consistently obscured informa-
tion about the irradiation of the
people and their high incidence of
In 1964. the first thyroid tumors thyroid disease and cancer. In 1975
and cancers appeared. Since that Nelson Anjain. Rongelap’s magistime. more than 90 percent of the trate, wrote to Dr. Robert Conard of
Rongelap children who were under Brookhaven:
x-rold and strontuum-90 rose 6-fold.
i2 years old in 1944 have developed
tnvroid tumors. Forty percent of all
tne exposed Marshallese have developed thyroid problems. as compared to an average of 3 or 4+ percent
among Americans.
**For me and the peopie on
Rongelap. it is life which matters
most. For youit is facts and figures.
We wantour life and our health. In
ail the vears vou've come to our Is-
Some people who returned to land you've never once treated us as
Rongelap in 1957 had been away people. You've never sat down
trom the island when the bomb among us and really helped us honexploded and therefore had not been estly with our problems. You have
told the people that the ‘worst ts
exposed to radiation.
Brookhaven’s 1960 medical sur- over, then Lekoj Anjain died. I am
vey showed little difference in very worried that we will suffer
radioactivity levels among exposed again and again."
and unexposed people living on
Rongelap. However. as late as 1969,
the bodyradioactivity levels of previouslv unexposed Rongelap people
was /0 times that of Marshallese living On a noncontaminated island.
In i371, Marshait Isiands leaders
invited a Japanese medical team to
pertorm an independent survey of
the Rongelap and Utirik people.
Barred by the United States from ac-
I2
The Uurik people were suffering
as well. Because their exposure was
considered "small." tests on genetic
and second generation etfects were
not conducted on them. The Atomic
Energy Commission had aiways told
the Ctirik peopie tnat the |4 rads of
radiation they had experienced was
too insignificant to be harmful.
Nevertheiess. in 23 years the Atomic
Energy Commission treated I1 re-
ported cases of thyroid tumors. 3 of
them malignant. out of a population
oronty {87.
But suddenly in 1977 the cancer
and thyroid disease rate among the
Uturikese rose so sharply that it
equalieu that of the much more
heavily exposed Rongelap population. This unexpected increase has
forced government scientists to revise theones on which radiation dose
rate will lead to adverse numan etfects.
“Thyroid nodules have been increasing in the UCtimk peopte and this
was quite unpredicted and we had
some of the best experts in the
United States.” said Gr. Conard.
who nas headed the Atomic Enercy
Commission and now ERDA (Energy
Research and Development Auministration) medical program in tne
Marshalls since 194.
“The theory was put forth thai
CUtink received iowradiation so « de-
tailed follow-up was nel necessary. *
said Dr. Konrad Kotrady. a former