4
that with the exception cf

-3coconut crabs from the northern islands of

the Rongelap Atoll, all

foods can be eaten.

ban entirely on eating

coconut crabs.

Last night we all joined

together in a feast of coconut crabs that were caught on the southern
islands,
These crabs are delicious and you can eat one a day of those
caught in the southern part of the atoll. We have crabs which were
taken from the northern and southern parts of Rongelap which we will
take back for analysis. We hope that soon we will be able to lift the
Before answering specific questions posed by the Rongelap Fallout

Survivors Association, I would like to say that there are some misunderstandings which arise because we on the medical team are not familiar with

the customs of the people.
I hope that you will forgive us when we do
something that goes against the customs. We would appreciate being told
when we do this.
I would Like now to take the questions up, one by one.
Some of them have already been answered in the discussion I have made prior
to this.

1.

“We request that the children of the irradiated be included in
compensation that may be forthcoming from the A. E. C. We
request this because we know that damage done to our bodies
by the radiation may be passed on to our children through
heredity.
This compensation for our children is of the
greatest concern to we people of Rongelap.”

This suestion is not within our area of authority, and will be turned over
to the authorities as soon as possible.

Though I cannot speak for the

U. S. Government I feel sure that if any radiation-connected disability
should arise in anv of the children. which was inherited from exposed
parents, they would be given due compensation.
2.

“We request that the United States hasten to complete their
arrangements with the Congress of Micronesia and be quick to
pay the money you owe us

for having damaged our islands."

This question is also out of the realm of our authority and will be
passed on to the proper authorities.
3.

"We request that the A. E. C. and the B. N. L. team pay the same
respect to the people of Rongelap that the people pay to them.
We submit that one way to do this would be to fulfiil all of
our requests with great haste."

We will pass these requests on to the proper authorities as soon as
possible.
4,

"We request that the B. N.

L.

team serve rice, bread, and meat

at the time of the examinations instead of the proposed cookies
and coffee. We request this food because the examinations and
the presence of the B. N. L. team interfere with our food
gathering, and food preparation to the point of halting them
completely."

Select target paragraph3