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6
and
Rags r
Giff Johnson, a free-lance writer who has traveled extensively
throughout the Pacific, edits the \icronesta Bulletin
published in Honolulu, Hawaii 96826.
-
Many Bikinians tell of Atomic Enerey Commission scientists taking
them to Bikint to demonstrate its
r
ce
Nan
safety. When the Bikinians refused
PACIFIC OCEAN
» SOMN 1 AS
to eat anylocal foods. fearing radiation exposure, the scientists would
+ wOUC AND I ADS
-”
consume conconuts, fish and other
;
foods in front of the islanders to
convince them.'' In 1972, however,
‘,
1
Nd
.. 2=4 TRUST TERRITORY OF THE
PACIFIC ISLANDS
the Bikinians expressed doubts
about the safety of their atoll and
mA
Ocean area: @ 3,000,000 square miles
Leod area: 700 square miles
plutonium” in their urine was dis-
so.
e
,
Eneweotak
*.
a
Bikini *
*
~~
~.
*
°
«Kwa Jalota .
~~
*.
“wn
"a
*,
Ss,
*
fe
Mariana, Caroline and Marshall [slands
peon!: living on the atoll in 1975, the
“‘presence of low levels of
- ons,
Population: 24,248
Area: 69.84 square miles .
Total island population: 114,645
Inhabited atolis and separate islands: 110
mission survey of the more than 100
We
Marshail islands District. ~~~
~~
to Bikini.
During an Atomic Energy Com-
~~. ep,
covered. The Commission, andlater
the Department of Energy, did not
consider
this
“radiologically
significant.’*'* By 1977, tests showed
an I1-fold increase in the people's
body burdens of cesium—137. Rather
than remove the population from a
hazardous environment, however,
the Department of Energy suggested
that the Trust Territory government
systems.-"'?)
The
situation
de-
teriorated further and by May 1978.
a high percentage of the Marshallese
body levels were above the
maximum permissible dose allowed
in the United States. The Bikinians
Were evacuated ayain.
26
Om
tee
plut.enium across the gut wall after
being incorporated into biological
1 2
“possibly the best available source
of data for evaluating the transfer of
yrereerernreny Oo RE
local foods, and thus exposure.
The Department seemed reluctant
to give up what one Lawrence
Livermore Laboratory study called
_
institute a complete feeding program, to reduce consumption of
© ray, bea ee seme eeesesenes
food and housing if they would move
so .
»
(2.141 islands)
voted not to return home. But the
government was committed to the
resettlement and offered Marshallese government employees free
rate aw cel
by the early 1970s a few people had
begun moving back.
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