WhydoI needto take medicine for my thyroid? If you had an operation and yourthyroid gland was removed, the medicinewill do the jobthat your thyroid used to do. So, you must keep taking your medicine. Some people who did not have the operation also take the medicine so that their thyroid glands do notget sick. It is very important that you take your medicineif you wantto stay healthy. What kind of radiation caused thyroid sickness and leukemia? Thyroid sickness in the Rongelap people exposed to fallout was caused by damage to the thyroid gland from a “thyroid radiation poison.” It took a long timefor the sickness to show. A few unexposed Rongelap people as well as some people in the Marshall Islands andall over the world develop thyroid sickness, but it is not due to radiation. All the “thyroid poison” on Rongelap was gone when the people moved back. Leukemia is a disease of the blood. Some cases were caused byradiation in Japan and it is possible that Lekoj’s leukemia may have been dueto radiation. Time is about past for any more leukemia to be expected from radiation. Whatwill happen to the people who were not exposed to radiation but are now living on Rongelap and Utirik? They don’t have to worry because thereis practically no chancethat any of the people will get sick from radiation since thereis so very little radiation left on the islands. “tact Pe Feast - People They are Rongelap people. They are healthy, too. - 103 -