RETYPED COPY.
January 21, 1982
Mr. Jonathan Weisgall
Ginsburg, Feldman, Weil and Bress
1700 Pennsylvania Avenue, N.W.
Washington, D.C.
Re:
20006
-,
Bikini Resettlement
Dear Jonathan:
It was indeed a pleasure to meet with you recently so that
we could have the opportunity to discuss the outgoing problems in
the Marshalls, and fin particular Bikini. I too feel strongly about
the need for independent scientists to assess the radiological and
radiobiological data from Bikini, it is the least we can provide
these unfortunate people who have suffered for many decades.
As per your request, I will be most happy to expand upon the
issues raised in our conversation. For clarification purposes, I
will include the questions contained in your letter of January 7,
1982, which will be followed by my responses.
"]. Misstatements and errors in the 1980 DOE booklet ('The
Morning of Radiation at Bikini Atol1') that you feel require
correction by the Bikinians" independent scientists."
Response. This DOE booklet, like the companion booklet for Enewetak,
is replete with deceptive and misleading language, all of which tends
to downplay and underestimate the potential health risks associated
with exposure to low-level radiation. The following statements are
representative of those misleading distortions:
Page 2:
(pagea7) A small part of the body located in the throat
page 17)"
The authors should have pointed out that the thyroid is
essential for development and body metabolism, and that
its injury led to the many cases of dwarfism and hypothyroidism in the Rongelap and Utirik populations. Also,
the authors neglected to mention that thyroid disease in
the exposed populations has a long Jatency period lasting
many decades.
Page 2:
"plutonium - A kind of radioactive atom, and an energy
called ‘alpha radiation’ comes from it. Plutonium will
not disappear for hundreds and hundreds of years."
The authors should have been more honest in pointing out
that plutonium has a half-life of 24,000 years.
ily ~)