The extraordinary ability of fowl to mobilize calcium in shell formation resulted in the pres-
ence of very high activity in the shells of the first few eggs. The activity was associated with
the fission products of the alkaline earth group.
Fertility of the hens and hatchability of the eggs produced by the mating of contaminated
roosters and hens showed noradiation effects. The baby chicks hatched from these eggs are
growing normally, and the amount of radioactivity in their tissues is barely detectable.
In the 6-month postdetonation period, neither significant gross changes nor pathological
changes, which could definitely be ascribed to radiation, were detected in any of the animals
from Rongelap.
Analysis of the internal contamination in human beings indicates that the dose to the
tissues of the body was nearbut did not exceed the maximum permissible dose levels. The
activity fixed in the body decreased rapidly as a function of time. The contribution of the
effects of internal contamination to the total radiation response observed appears to be small
on the basis of the estimated body burden of the radioelements. In view of the short half life
of the most abundant fission products in this situation, the possibility that chronic irradiation
effects will occur is quite small.