Ray: In addition to the lessening that comes from the "fire dying down" it is also being washed out of the soil by the rains so that it is not as available. It is getting deeper into the soil and finally getting into the groundwater so that it then disappears. Marshallese from Wotho: then. I would like to further ask another question, This I am wanting to talk about, soil and plants. Other foods. In 1946 there were, the tests began and I assume that some of these radioactive particles began coming to our atoll, Wotho. One of our staples that we really relied on in our diet at Wotho is arrowroot. plenty of it, that's our staple food. And we had So we are now told that these radioactive materials enter the soil and somehow are active, or affect the soil. Ray: Just how do they affect the soil? How do they work in the soil? The radioactive materials do not have a harmful effect on the productivity of the soil. Buck: Ray: Is that the question? I believe so. They do not in any measurable way that we are aware of, affect the productivity of the soil. I will continue. And there is no evidence that the presence of the radioactive material in the soil affects the health of a growing plant, damages the plant itself. Marshallese from Wotho: In all of the islands that appear on this map of Wotho we have not any arrowroot at all. We do not have arrowroot in our atoll. And I would like to continue. a bit. We do have the stalk, the leaves, but no, no root. we can, our staple is gone. arrowroot. Now, I'd like to just expand on that Nothing, that Now the plant is there but we can't eat Utrik and Likiep have the same conditions. All the northern, northeastern, all the northwestern atolls. deBrum: The question is, assuming that the radiation is the cause. NOR ARCHIVES 35