Department of Energy

Washington, D.C. 20545
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JUN 2.6 1980
Mr. Wallace O. Green
Acting Deputy Assistant Secretary
Territorial and International Affairs
~--9.S. Department of the Interior

Washington, D.C.

‘*- Dear Mr.

20240

Green:

As requested in your letter of May 20, 1980, to Mrs. Ruth C. Clusen, and
per Mr. Copaken's verbal request following a meeting of April 23, 1980, at
his office attended by Mr. Copaken and several of his consultants, the
Department of Energy (DOE), Brookhaven National Laboratory (BNL), and the
Department of Interior, which was represented by Mr. John DeYoung, the

Department of Energy is pleased to elaborate upon its proposed agreement
as appended to my letter of March 25, 1980, to Mrs. Ruth Van Cleve.

It was clear during this meeting that Mr. Copaken, perhaps, did not fully

understand the substance of our offer of March 25, 1980, or the reasons
behind it. Discussions on April 23, 1980, between our medical personnel

(Department of Energy and Brookhaven National Laboratory) and Mr. Copaken's

medical consultant, Dr. Robert G. Loeffler, were most helpful in clarifying many of these issues, however.
It presumably is a consequence of these
discussions that Mr. Copaken verbally requested us to amplify upon our
offer of March 25, 1980.

This amplification basically consists of a detailed idenrification of the
laboratory tests to be included under the general term “biochemical

screening profile” which was included in paragraph 1 of the proposed agree
ment appended to my letter of March 25, 1980.
The identification of
specific tests included under that term is appended to this letter. You
will note that it includes hematological, biochemical and urological

analyses, plus other indicators, which would clearly identify, among other
things, any evidence of thyroid dysfunction or of blood dyscrasias.

Clearly, any possible radiation exposure of the people of Likiep Atoll has
been considerably less than that experienced by the people of Rongelap and
Utirik, and, at this time, after 26 years of medical follow-up, we have no
reason tobelieve that diseases which have not appeared among the Rongelap

and Utirikpopulations would appear among any other populations in the
Marshall Islands as a consequence of any possible lower levels of radiation
exposure (e.g., bone cancer or opthalmic effects).

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