vee cane : L we The net effect is that the external dose to the wholebody, bone marrow, eyes and skin would most likely be less than those listed in these reports for most living patterns and lifestyles. 3. Internal Exposure 3.1 Role of Diet Estimates As discussed previously (5,657), the diet of the Bikinians is not known precisely. This is not surprising; nutritionists in the United States have remarked on the difficulty of finding out accurately what people eat 8) | The Lawrence Livermore group has assumed that the Micronesian Legal Service (MLSC) dietary estimates for the Enewetak people, when they were living on Ujelang Atoll in 1979, will apply to the resettlement of Bikini. The estimates were made by a staff member of MLSC (M. Pritchard) during a 2 1/2 week visit to Ujelang. The MLSC diets are open to some question since they are based on a short period of data collection by an “outsider", although he was aided by the local school teacher. An inconsistency of the Pritchard diet is that it predicts that women eat more than men and thus shou ls have a cesium-137 body burden that is 60% higher. The Brookhaven team found in 1978 that the male settlers had a mean body-burden 40% higher than the female. The LLNL group uses the higher intake of the females from the MLSC diet as a reasonable estimate of our adult intake at the atolls. In this report, we have averaged the male and female estimates to obtain a dietary estimate for the adult population. However, recent comparison of predicted body burdens (and, therefore, dose) using different diet models with measured body burdens at Bikini, Rongelap and Utirik Atolls indicate thes Fe MLSC adult diet used by LLNL best predicts the observed body burdens ’ . As mentioned previously the largest fraction of the predicted dose at the atolls comes from potential consumption of coconuts. Thus, determining a- reasonable average intake of coconuts by people living on the outer atolls is very important in estimating the radiation dose. The MLSC diets (Tables D.2, 0.3) assume the use of 1-2 coconuts per person per day averaged over a year. Other estimates based on previous experience ranged from 0.5 to upwards of 5 per day. The important points also have been made that the number of coconuts used in preparing a meal is not necessarily the number eaten; that many nuts are used primarily for drinking, especially during work in the groves, so that much if not all of the meat may be discarded; and phat local and external factors significantly affect consumption (5,6 . It is clear to all who have been visiting the Marshall Islands that the Marshallese diet has been changing significantly during the past 10 years. For example, canned drinks and canned foods are now commonplace in many communities, in part due to the food assistance program. Coconut consumption has certainly diminished. Ralph Waltz, a consultant to this Committee who resides on Majuro and is a member of the Bikini family, made a small diet survey during the fall of 1983. The 88 individual members of 14 Bikini families were reported on daily for six days. The data given to the Committee by Mr. Waltz show that references to fish and chicken (imported) averaged 0.7 per day per person. The overall average for coconuts was less than i per person per week. In fact, coconut consumption was limited to 4 of the 14 families; in these four, 5000107 D-2