Note 15: Senator Anjain's letter The letter from Senator Anjain speaks for itself. It should be compared with the body of the text of the present Report. I would, however, like to comment on one point, namely, ny failure to transmit Dr. Bertell's letter to the Congress immediately on receiving it. The reason was this: I did not consider her report good enough to be transmitted by me as part of my work as Referee. I may add that Dr. Bertell had testified before the Congress. at the April 26, 1988, hearing, at the invitation of Senator Anjain. 5s Her letter (as did her testimony) dealt with two major topics. First, an attempt to show that somehow living on Rongelap per se affected the blood cell counts. I enclose ny letter to Dr. Muckle, a pathologist she consulted about this work. Dr. Muckle agreed that when all of the data were reviewed, no tangible results were evident. Second, the survey of child health led to suggestions that something was radically wrong and that radiation would be the presumptive cause, owing to currently living on Rongelap. I do not consider the data convincing. No mention is made of the usual levels of infant and child health in the Marshalls, and how difficult it would be against such a background to establish radiation as a cause. On this score I quote fron the Report of the Task Force on Realth (December 17, 1985), chaired by Mrs. Carmen Bigler, RepMar Secretary of Interior and Outer Island Affairs: "The task force believes that the central problem facing the health care system is a reversal of priorities;...an appropriate medical system must provide first the essentials of health through public health education, immunization, clean water, sanitation, family planning, community-based dispensary system, and infectious disease control." For more specifie information, I suggest reading “Current Living Conditions of Children in the Marshall Islands", a Report of general information for submission to UNICEF, Republic of the Marshall Islands, June 1984. [In this corrected edition one other matter should not be passed ever. I wish to comment specifically on the accusations relating to Mr. Dunster, made in the letter, pages 86 and 87, based on statements made by the Environmental Policy Institite (EPI) of Washington, D.C. EPI stated that Dunster as Health Physics Manager of the Windscale reactor in 1957 collaborated with colleagues in the U. K. Atomic Energy Authority to withhold critical information from the public regarding that accident. However, Mr. Dunster attests that . (a) he never held such a post at Windscale; (b) at the tize of the accident he worked at Risley, 150 miles distant; (c) he had nothing to do with the official report by the (now) Lord Penney; (a) he was surprised 20 years later to learn that critical information had been withheld by order of the Prime Minister. More than five months have elapsed since I wrote to EPI and to Senator Anjain about their false statements, but neither one has acknowledged receipt of ny letter.) 83 90006490