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active mud in the lagoon.
First atoll (Enewetak) to have a
hydrogen device, the “Mike” shot
in November of 1952, remove one of its
he, i
‘islands, leaving a one-mile hole in the reef
and a blanket of radioactivity on islands
nearby.
from fallout, an aftermath of the ‘“‘Bravo”
.
.7 *
.
err at
roe
.
wo,
to a height of more than a mile, andleft
a legacy of half a million tons of radio-—
the troops will win that battle remains to
”
.
ay
*
:
en.
.
:
a
eee
oy
First atoll (Bikini) to have an atomic
‘bomb exploded beneath the waters
of its lagoon. That shot, “Baker” in 1946,
sucked ten million gallons of seawater up
‘
wn
edie
'.
.
ao .
meted
‘* .
a
eat
wate
ve
-.
¥ a
.
4 ap om AAS arekda, os=
If there were a Book of Records for
misfortune, the Northem Marshalls could
claim these divisions:
be seen.
_ &Y First group of people (those of
Rongelap, Ailinginae, Rongerik and
Utirik} ever exposed to acute radiation
.
we
ae
“
,
forcibly pulled from isolation and subjected to stresses the rest of the world has yet
to experience, but may still have to
--endure.
ed to a full-scale radiation cleanup
by a battalion of Army engineers. Whether
ae
wae
~
-jmpact, there has been no precedent.
Because .of their remoteness, the
atolls became the proving ground for
- man's most advanced technology. In the
“process, the islands and their people were
#5 ‘First atoll (Encwctak) to be subject-
.
of
"
vo
:
‘ple of environmental, socialand economic
*A
:
.*.
woos
ta
-pow only dimly understood. As an exam-
a9
wot
changed the Northen Marshall
islands and their people in ways that are
we
1958
zy
.
A succession of nuclear tests at
Enewetak and Bikini atolls from 1946 to
One of Enewetak's newesmresidents adjusts to
life on japtan, one of the atoll’s “safe” islands.
It took the military two to three
days to evacuate the populations of the
exposed islands, during which time the
tadioactivity fell at RongeJap like snow
and the exposure was compounded as
island residents, not aware of the problem,
For nine years, a medical team
from the Brookhavefi National Laboratory, which was chosen by the AEC to
* monitor the health of the exposed people
and to treat radiation-related illness, gave
assurances there was nothing to worry
about. (See page 21)
In 1963, a 12-year-old girl at Rongelap was found to have a nodule of the
thyroid gland, an ominous development.
Since then, the incidence of thyroid
nodules and cancer of-the thyroid, first
.at Rongelap and later at Utirik, has escalated -relentlessly. There have- also been
:fatal cases of stomach cancer and leuke-
tmia “that are believed to be radiation‘related.
One thyroid malignancy on Utirik
involved the young son of an exposed .
person. This raises the possibility of cither
second-generation health effects from
genetic damage or exposure from radia- tion now on the atoll affecting the next
generation. Neither possibility was taken
into account by the medical program of
the AEC or its successor, the Energy
Research and Development Administra-
tion (ERDA),
+
The official count at Utirik this
year was }1 cases of thyroid tumors, three
of them malignant. There were 30 cases
of thyroid tumors on Rongelap, three of
them also malignant. The numbers are
constantly changing and don’t make sense.
“Perhaps you can tell us if there is
some explanation for the same number
of malignant thyroid cases in Rongelap
and Utirik, who received very different
levels of radiation,” the chiefs and people
ofUtirik asked ERDA in a letter last year.
But the medical experts are unable
to explain the thyroid nodule and malignancy rate. “It turns out we were wrong,
shot at Bikini in March of 1954.: That ate and drank contaminated food and
hydrogen bombtest, the biggest blast yet water. The people from Ailinginae and but we did it in all sincerity,” said Dr.
attempted, sent millions of tons-of Bikini | Rongelap (80 and 100 miles east of Bikini). Robert A. Conard; head of the Brookreef five miles in the air within one quickly developed skin burns, gastrointcs- haven medical program in the Marshalls
minute, into what the Atomic Energy tinal problems, hairloss and blood compli- for 23 years.
.
Commission said was an unexpected shift cations, The people from Utirik (280 miles
Faith in the power of technology
of winds in the upper atmosphere.
east of Bikini}, who described the fallout. has becn deeply shaken, “The people ask
A gritty, radioactive cloud drifted there as “mist-likc,” showed no outward
if this thyroid problem has suddenly ©
eastward and exposed 240 Marshallese, sign of radiation injury.
occurred, is it not possible that the experts
28 American servicemen and 23 Japanese
have been wrong for so many years and
The residents from the atolls were
fishermen to various levels of contamina- treated at Kwajalein. The AEC allowed
that more problems will occur in the
tion. The “Bravo” shot fallout was the those from Utirik to return three months, future?” Dr. Konrad-P. Kotrady, a former
worst accident that occurred during the later but the residents of Ailinginae and
ERDA doctor in the Marshalls, wrote in a
test period.
Rongelap could not return for three years. ‘recent criticism of the medical program.
+
This uncertainty has stirred fear.
Although the people of the down“Romeo” was the United States’ second
H-bomb. Detonated on Bikini atoll on Merch
wind atolls were known to have absorbed Women on the atolls are reported to be
26, 1954, “Romeo”followed in the wake of
teluctant to nurse their young. “It has
large amounts of radioactive iodine,
worldwide criticism aimed at U S. nuclear
been
an amazing psychological trauma to
absorbed
and
stored
by
the
thyroid
gland,
testing in the Pacific. Critics pointed out thot
these people,” said Glenn Alcalay, who
they showed no recognizable signs of
even ofter the tragedy of the March 1, 1954
lived on Utirik as a Peace Corps volunteer
H-bomb {in which Marshallese islanders ond
thyroid damage and the medical experts
Joponese fishermen were exposed to radiothe past year.
concluded there waslittle chance of furective fallout) no warning wes issued prior
Thyroid patients have been Nown
ther
health
problems.
This
assumption
fo this second testing. (Defense Nucleor
to Hawaii and the mainland U.S, for surwaslater proved wrong.
S013 10
‘
17
r coe