Background Paper on a Health Plan
for the Marshall Islands
Article l--Introduction
P.L. 96-205 requires the Secretary of the interior to develop
an integrated, comprehensive health care program and a program
of environmental research and monitoring for the peoples of
the Marshalls for any injury, illness, or condition which may
be the result directly or indirectly of the U.S. nuclear
weapons testing progran.
1.
The statute.
The pertinent statute is Public Law 96-205,
approved March 12, 1980, which provides in section 102:
"(a) In adéitior to any other payments or benefits
provided by law to compensate inhabitants of the atolls
of Bikini, Enewetak, Rongelap, and Utirik, in the
Marshall Islands for radiation exposure or other losses
sustained by them as a result of the United States
nuclear weapons testing program at or near the atolls
during the period 1946 to 1958, the Secretary of the
Interior (herein after in this section referred to as
the ‘'Secretary') shall provide for the people of the
atolls of Bikini, Enewetak, Rongelap, and Utirik and
for the people of such other atolls as may be found to
be or to have been exposed to radiation from the
nuclear weapons testing program, a program of medical
care and treatment and environmental research and
monitoring for any injury, illness, or condition which
maybe the result directly or indirectly of such
ee,
nuclear weapons testing program.
The program shall be
implemented according to a plan developed by the
Secretary in consultation with the Secretaries of
Defense, Energy, and Health, Education, and Welfare
and with the direct involvement of representatives from
the people of each of the affected atolls and from the
goverrment of the Marshall Islands. The pian shall set
forth, aS appropriate to the situation, condition, and
needs of the individual atoll peoples:
“{1) an integrated, comprehensive health care
program including primary, secondary, and
--- tertiary care with special emphasis upon the
biological effects of ionizing radiation;
"(2) a schedule for the periodic comprehensive
survey and analysis of the radiological status
of the atolls to ané at appropriate intervals,
but not less frequently than once every five
years, the development of an updated radiation
Gose assessment, together with an estimate of
the risks associated with the predicted human
exposure, for each such atoll; and
s