Giff Johnson, a free-lance writer who has traveled extensively throughout the Pacific, edits the Micronesia Bulletin published in Honolulu, Hawaii 96826. by the early 1970s a few people had begun moving back. Many Bikinians tell of Atomic En- ergy Commission scientists taking them to Bikini to demonstrate its safety. When the Bikinians refused to eat any local foods. fearing radiation exposure, the scientists would consume conconuts, fish and other foods in front of the islanders to convince them.'! In 1972, however, the Bikinians expressed doubts about the safety of their atoll and voted not to return home. But the government was committed to the resettlement and offered Marshal- Pas mo Oe Ye - 2 2h . significant.""'? By 1977, tests showed an I1-fold increase in the people's bady burdens of cesium-137. Rather than remove the population from a hazardous environment, however, the Department of Energy suggested that the Trust Terntory government institute a complete feeding program. to reduce consumption of local foods. and thus exposure. The Department seemed reluctant to give up what one Lawrence Livermore Laboratory study called ““possibiy the best available source of data for evaluating the transfer of plutonium across the gut wail after being incorporated into biological syStems.'''3 The situation detenorated further and by May 1978, a high percentage of the Marshallese body levels were above the Maximum permissible dose allowed in the Unsted States. The Bikimans were evacuated again. 26 (2.141 islands) 2 *. S lese government employees free food and housing if they would move to Bikint. Dunng an Atomic Energy Commission survey of the more than 100 people iiving on the atoll in 1975, the ‘“*presence of low levels of plutonium” in their urine was dis. covered. The Commission, and later the Department of Energy, did not consider this ‘‘radiologically PACIFIC ISLANDS Dioseel le % » e . — Martena, Carotiar and Marshall Islands Po ; aeeee j Marshall istends Detrict-~~ $ Populanioa: 24,248 | Area: 69.84 square mules Total isnnd popelation: 114,645 Inhabited siolls and separate intnods: 110 Ocean sree: @ 3,000,000 square mniles Land area: 700 square miles ' ‘ Ncw *Y . of See} NG : ' :oes a