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409929
REPOSITORY

BOX No.

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Office of the Assistant Secretary
Territorial & International Affairs
Interior Department
August 1, 1980

Discussion Paper
Health Plan for the Marshall Islands
Meeting of August 4, 1980

The purpose of the meeting is to discuss the content of the health plan,
required by law to be developed by the Secretary of the Interior and
submitted to the Congress no later than January 1, 1981.
The pertinent statute is Public Law 96-205,
1.
The statute.
approved March 12, 1980, which provides in section 102:
“(a) In addition 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
may be the result directly or indirectly of such
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
government of the Marshall Islands. The plan shall set
forth, as appropriate to the situation, condition, and
needs of the individual atoll peoples:
“(l) 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 and at appropriate intervals,
but not less frequently than once every five
years, the development of an updated radiation
dose assessment, together with an estimate of
the risks associated with the predicted human
exposure, for each such atoll; and

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