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wewverrom > Abo: LeT LAB
COLLECTION
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L/33/—/
FOLDER (Asiz Ef[pTtbptberen 13, 19641
Br. Robert Conard
Brookha
National Labora
Upton, Long Imlant, Nev Yor:
BEST COPY AVAILABLE
Dear Bod:
Many thanks for the copy of the wost recent survey of the. Rongelap
natives.
copies.)
(Payne Harris and Wright Langhem also thank you for their
It looks to me as though we can probably say thet the
lymphocyte counts have finally returned to normal limite.
It would
be interesting to see 1f there will ever be an explanation for the
apparent drop in the total white count in the 1960 survey.
The
developmental defects in the mall children are also of considerable
interest, and I presume an attempt will be made to correlate these
findings with what has been reported in Japan.
There is one smal] point where my memory may be playing tricks on
me. It is my recollection that it was not possible to get from any
of the natives a satisfactory history of nausea and vomiting during
the first 24 or 48 hours after exposure.
I do remember that there
was some complaint of these symptoms while they were on the destroyer
en route to Kwajalein. It was my impression, however, that they were
very close to being symptom-free up to that trip.
Now I note on
Page 2 a statement thet two-thirds of the people experienced anorexia
and nausea and there was a little vomiting and diarrhea during the
first 4&8 hours.
statement is.
I wonder if you could tell me how precise this
Certainly I have been going around saying that nausee
and vomiting will probably be absent in exposures below 200 rads
although this is probably not a 100% rule, and one may also encounter
G.I. disturbances purely on en emotional basis. Maybe some one of
these years I can get back out when your survey team goes and see
those natives again. I will, however, be very careful about getting
@ sunburn comparable to the one I got on my previous visit to
Rongelap.
Very sincerely yours,
THOMAS L. SHIPMAN, M.D.,
Health Division Leader
TLS/ica
KR