tn oe ee 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. eee eee ee ee, a