37 5.2 Infant Dosage To be done. §.3 This section may or may not be necessary. Plutonium Plutonium poses a special problem that has two facets. Fir t, the dosage of plutonium calculated from the type B community diet do s not agree with many individual estimates based on urinary excretion. Second, the determination of plutonium in the urine has been exceptionally variable from subject to subject. To represent th s wide distribution I have used the median value (middle value), not th mean (average) value, of the entire group. The problem should be approached from the perspective provi ed by the data in Table 4.5 #1. The transuranics (plutoniun-239,-240 nd americium-241) contributed less than 1.5% to the total whole-bod dose. Suppose that they had been underestimated by a factor of 100. eir contribution would then rise to 1.6 rem, which added to the 1.25 ren fron other sources would give a total of 2.85 rem. This dose is stil within the guide. As noted in Section 4.3, the great variations among the in ividual support. n physiological variations due to age or other factors. It would e especially important to study the people before they return to ngelap to determine how rapidly the body content is excreted and the r ation of the excretion rate to various physiological factors, as well as fter plutonium determinations do merit investigation and I urge DOE’ I suggest that they are not entirely methodological, but stem f their return for purposes of monitoring. Once the variation in the urine determinations is understo , their agreement or lack of agreement with the calculated output from assumed diet could be attacked, so that the estimated dosages would becdme much more reliable. I understand that DOE is now considering the matter. 5.4 Monitoring and Health Programs I recommend that the whole-body counting program to determ he cesium-137 should be resumed as soon as practical. (It was dis@ontinued in 1985.) It should be supplemented at the same time by studie on the strontium and plutonium content of the urine. These studies ar essential for the control of the population's exposure to the radionuclides that contaminate the atoll. Carried out properly. such studies are also of prime inter st to the health of people who have been exposed to nuclear radiations. know that the Rongelap people do not want themselves to be “guinea p gs" to scientists throughout the world who are interested in preservin