radiation illnesses to the people or exposure of the islands and waters of Rongelap, AREAS OF COMPENSATION The Committee believes that there are two areas in which it is supremely evident that illness was directly caused by exposure to radiation and which merit compensation, These are: those who have developed thyroid abnormalities and who have been treated for them either through medication or surgery and the death of Lekoj Anjain from leukemia. There are also other areas in the category of illness, and in the area of exposure which merit compensation, even though direct causal relation- ships between exposure and damage may not be clear. These include temporary sterility, miscarriages, and life shortening and certain psychological effects, and also exposure of lands and waters, flora and fauna, (Copra) With regard to the latter category of compensation it, may be asserted by some--scientists for example--that it cannot be proven that "damage" was done to trees, animals, etc., by exposure, except perhaps in the case of the coconut crabs on Rongelap, which were not damages, but rather denied to the people of Rongelap because of the high concentrations of SR 90 and CS 137 which they contain. The Committee is all too'aware of the difficulty--even perhaps impossibility--of "proving" that damage was, indeed, done, However, it recalls the phrase from its last report (p. 41) concerning the giving of radioactive materials to patients that the "prudent assumption" is that "all ifonizing radiation to the patient is harmful", Consequently, -28~ TOE ee — wy were io we Te ITE"UATE FETE RAT eres + ers ae, 4 . + Aue ely uF toy ae re! wt oe age ae