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WHOLE BODY COUNTING RESULTS FROM 1974 TO 1979 FOR BIKINI ISLAND
RESIDENTS
R. P. Miltenberger, N. A. Greenhouse, E. T. Lessard
Brookhaven National Laboratory, Upton, New York
11973
ABSTRACT
Three body burden measurements of the Bikini Island population
were conducted from 1974 to 1978 at Bikini Island.
During this time,
the mean 13766 body burden of the adult Bikini population increased
by a factor of 20.
This dramatic elevation of the body burden ap-
pears to be solely attributable to increased availability of locally
grown food products, specifically coconuts and coconut plant products.
In January 1979, forty-five percent of the individuals that
were whole body counted in April 1978 were recounted approximately
one hundred and forty-five days after the Bikini Island population
departed from Bikini Atoll.
These results show that the adult
population mean 137¢, body burden decreased by a factor of 2.9 between the April 1978 and January 1979 in vivo measurements.
}