19
Psychic effects. The Japanese people exposed to
the atomic bombings suffered acute psychic trauma from the horrifying experience they underwent and multiple injuries, burns, loss of homes,
lack of food, disease, etc. In contrast, the Ron-
gelap people were hardly aware of anyth:
0f
great significance happening at the time ot exposure, and it was with relative calm andrapid
adjustment that they went to their new homes to
living conditions generally superior to those they
were accustomed to. It is true that they have
suffered some nostalgia for their homeisland but
always with the knowledge that they would return. (At the time of this writing they havereturned to their homeisland andareliving in completely rebuilt homes.) If there had been no hope
of returning to their homeisland, the psychic effects might have been serious. There was little real
concern expressed abouttheir radiation exposure.
It would seem, therefore, in the case of the ex-
posed Marshallese that there has beenlittle or no
apparent psychic effect of this momentous event.
Superficial Beta Radiation Exposure
The acute phase of the beta burnsofthe skin
was over by several monthsafter exposure with
satisfactory healing taking place. No further
breakdownor development of chronic radiation
dermatitis has been noted in any ofthese lesions.
It is of interest that about twice the incidence of
pingueculae and pterygia had been notedin the
exposed Rongelap people as in the unexposed
groups during the past two years. Since many of
the people received a certain degree of beta radiation to the mucous membranes of the eyes (as
evidenced by lachrymation and burning during
the first day or two), it is possible that this may
have influenced the increased incidenceof these
abnormalities.
internal Radiation Exposure
In an acutefallout situation, iodine-131 is probably the most important absorbedisotope to be
considered during the early period. In the Marshallese, the 300 rep estimated to have been delivered to the thyroid glands (100 to 150 from I"
and 175 r from the gamma dose) wasfar too low
to produce any acute effect. (Possible long-term
effects of this dose will be discussed below.) The
conglomerate of ingested isotopes delivered about
3 mC of radiation to the gastro-intestinal tract
duringthe first day after radiation, but again this
dose was too low for any acuteeffect. Internal concentration of other isotopes was far below any
levels necessary to produce acute or subacute
effects.
LATE EFFECTS
Investigations in animals and to a lesser extent
in man have revealed certain late or long-term
radiation effects. Some of the more fundamental
of these are discussed below in relation to the
Marshallese experience.
Penetrating Radiation
Premature aging and shortening of life span have
been shown conclusively to occur in animals followingirradiation.'*'’-'® Establishmentofcriteria
for quantification of aging is notoriously difficult.
Therefore, little or no data suitable for precise
measurementof aging effects have been collected
in the Marshallese.Accommodationtests of the eves
and audiometric analyses were carried out, but no
detectable differences in these parameters were
found in regard to age between the irradiated and
unirradiated groups. As to premature aging, the
senior author has observed these people at repeated intervals since their radiation exposure,
and they do not appear to have aged faster or look
older than similarly aged unexposed Marshallese
persons. No doubt the subtle changes which occur
with aging would be difficult to detect over this
period of time.
Estimates of the shorteningof life span in the
human being have varied considerably in different reports.’°-?5 In the Marshallese at three vears
post-exposure, only one of the 64 heavily exposed
group had died. This compares favorably with
five deaths among the 157 Utirik people who
received the smaller exposure. Even though there
are quite a few old people in the irradiated group,
it is probably too soon to expect meaningful longevity data. However,it would appear that some
of the upperestimates of life span shortening in
humanbeingsare too high (someinvestigators
estimate 30 or more days per r), since it would
seem that even in this small population more
evidence of aging orlife span shortening ofthis
magnitude would have been noted. Data onlon-