RADIATION Part IV"
who were unexposed.
-3-
Four out of four boys examined in this age
group show a retardation of growtn and bone deve.ognuent.
There is no discrepancy in weight between the two groups, Dut
ci... exposed boys are shorter,
heavier and more bull chested.
They
would make better guards on the Ronselap.rootball squad.
Complicating the picture is the astonishing fact that girls
exposed to
fallout at the same age are not affected.
This is ex~
tremely puzzling since children under 8 have no functional gonads;
cherefore,
no sexual] differences are presumed to exist between them.
At puberty the exposed poys are apout seven months behind tne
unexposed in height and bone development.
prignt normal kids. : From this,
Otherwise, they are snare,
we tentatively conclude that the
boys were particularly vulnerable to radiation at this age and that
the resulting slowdown in bone development retarded growth.
.
NN
Ail 19 children examined on Rongelap in 1964 showed thyroid
vland abnormalities.
In fact, every child under 16 years of age at
sne time of exposure has something wrong with his or her thyroid.
“nese abnormalities can be caused by radioactive iodine wnich is taker
.1to the body with contaminated food and concentrated in the thyroic.
Radiation to the thyroid can recuce the amount of hormone sesretec by this gland.
The reduction in turn may retard bone deveics-
ont and result in failure to acnieve normal height.
Studies of tne