BROOKHAVEN NATIONAL LABORATORY ASSOCIATED UNIVERSITIES, INC. 401558 i Mecca, Oepenmeny Upton. New York 11973 (516) 345- 3577 December 27, 1977 Mr. Niktimus Antak — Magistrate, Rongelap Dear Nik, I am happy that the President of the United States has signed the compen- sation bill and that the money will be paid to the people soon. I know the people appreciate the efforts of Congressman Ataji Balos in getting this bill passed. He personally went to Washington for this purpose. Some of the people may be confused about how the AEC doctors are involved with the compensation bill. Hence, I would like to explain the situation, and hope that you will tell the people. The Congress of the United States, on the basis of recommendations of the Congress of Micronesia, specified in the com— pensation bill the types of medical effects of fallout (thyroid conditions and radiation-related cancer of other organs) in exposed individuals that would be . compensated. The Department of Interior requested us to give them the names of exposed individuals having these conditions. The AEC doctors supply these names to the Department of Interior directly from the medical records. The Department of Interior in turm sends this list to the Trust Territory for it's use in connection with payment of the compensation. It is important to make clear that the designation of individual names is entirely on the basis of the medical findings. This involves no choice on the part of the AEC doctors, since these findings (the diagnoses) are a matter of record and readily avail- able. In other words, the AEC doctors do nothing more than make available the findings. They have nothing to do with saying whe is te be compensated or hoy much, other than providing the medical findings. , The Rongelap people have cooperated well with our medical team over the past years. By careful examination of the people we were able to find thyroid and other troubles early and treat them. We reported all the people with these sicknesses. I hope the people will continue to cooperate with our medical team as they have in the past. There are some more exposed people whom we believe may be getting thyroid troubles and we need to continue careful examinations so that they can be treated and have their condition reported. These penpie being added would be eligible for compensation later than the others. We will be having our big medical survey at Rongelap in April. We will be bringing some of the best doctors in the United States. We are looking forward to seeing you. Yakwe kom to all the people. Yakwe, CC: Congressman Balos | — m OU JO O6 COIAS Robert A. Conard, M.D.