Page Two
Jonathan Weisgall
January 21, 1982
Page 2:
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‘
“standard (radiation standard) - The amounts of radiation
that have been established that people should not exceed."
To an unsuspecting Marshallese, this statement implies a
threshold level of radiation injury. The authors should
have pointed out that no radiation level is safe, as in the
linear model, and moreover, that there is growing evidence
for a super-linear model which states that cancer may be
induced at lower levels of radiation exposure due to the
numbers of cells that may be spared for a later malignancy.
Page 2:
"radiation - A kind of energy that comes from radioactive
atoms as they change and become other kinds of atoms.
This
energy we cannot see, hear, smell, taste, or feel."
Nowhere does it state that radiation is harmful to human
health.
Page 4:
“Of the atoms that are radioactive, some have always been
a part of the world. These are God-made and it will take
a very long time before they go away."
To invoke the name of God with the Marshallese, who are
very Christian, especially as it relates to radiation, is
a cheap shot which takes advantage of the peoples‘ religious
beliefs. This statement violates the rule of logic insofar
as it appeals to a higher authority--one almost gets the
distinct impression that God sanctions radioactivity because
{t was present at the Creation. This entire page distorts
the fact that unlike other locations in the world, Bikini
is the site of 23 nuclear explosions--with many of these in
the megaton range. I do not know of a single honest radiation
scientist who would return the Bikini to raise a family, yet
the language contained on page 4 gives the impression that
the radiation at Bikini is not very different from other
locations in the world.
Page 12:
"No alpha radiation is able to reach people's bodies from
the radioactive atoms in the soil."
This statement is false. Plutonium, an alpha-emitter, can
enter the foodchain and be internally absorbed into a human
body.
Also, it takes only one-millionth of a gram of inhaled
plutonium dust to cause a lung cancer. It would be like
playing radiation roulette to see how long it would take for
the returning Bikinians to contract lung cancer after living
at their former atoll.
Page 14:
"Some of the strontium atoms will leave the body when people
eliminate, but many of the strontium atoms will remain in the
bones, and radiation will continue to come from these radioactive atoms."
The authors failed to mention that whenever radioisotopes
are ingested in the human body, they come into contact with
normal, healthy cells. When this happens, the nuclei of
normal cells are bombarded with radioactive particles and
high- and low-energy rays which can alter healthy cells. The
result of this nuclei bombardment can lead to cancer, and
ALJ")