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<TANC RO FORM NO. 64
Office Memitandum
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UNITED STATES GOVERNMENT
K. E. Fields, General Manager
(THRU) Brig. General Alfred D, Starbird
TO
Director, Division of Military Application
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C. Le Dunhan, M.D? - / f oY
FROM
a 23, 1988
SUBJECT:
Director, Division of Biolégy and Medicine
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REDETERMINATION OF WHOLE BODY CONTAMINATION OF MARSHALLESE NATIVES
SYMBOL:
BYMsHDB
As requested in General Luedecke's classified TWX of April 20
to General Starbird (received April 21/0221Z), staff members
of the Division of Biology and Medicine, and of the Medical
Department of Brookhaven National Laboratory have re-evaluated
the advisability of resurveying the whole body contamination
burdens of the Marshallese Islanders during the month of May
1953. It was the consensus of all concerned that the promptest
resurvey possible would be in the best interests of the Commis
sion, and the Departments of State, Interior and Defense,
In the event of any surface contamination of the atolls, a base
line value of the degree and type of internal contamination by
radioisotopes originating from the 195) incident is almost man=
datory.
It should be possible to evaluate additional body burdens
picked up under such circumstances or alternatively to prove that
the present series has not added to the amount and composition of
their present contamination.
The possible changes induced in the environment by a few shots
may well not have influenced the natives appreciably by the time
the resurvey can be made, Alternatively, if beginning changes are
observed (based on memory of the original lost data), it may turn
out to be most important that they be detected and evaluated,
The desirability of securing an extra year's scientific data for
the purposes of completing the cumulative radiation doses to these
natives is obviously desirable from a purely scientific point of
view, but the above considerations are believed to be the over=
riding ones.
It is, therefore, requested that General Luedeckets assistance be
sought in accomplishing this resurvey along the lines suggested in
his TWX of April 20 or by any other way which will expedite matters,
The teams, consisting of Dr. Robert Conard, Dr. James Robertson, and
Mr, Daniel Potter, can be at Eniwetok with their equipment by May 7,
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CORFIRHED TCO BE UNCLASSIFIED
AUTHORITY: DOR/SA~20
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