~ - Sp yee er ae t “oy 7 ( ~~, oot Dr. John R. Totter -2- November 3, 1969 t Congress is not unreasonable except that as I pointed out to Mr. Johnston they were probably not aware that the Trust Territory participation in these surveys also accomplished part of their routine medical field trip mission and one might argue that they could reasonably provide some monetary support on that basis. 2. The Utirik Situation. The recent discovery of a case of cancer of the thyroid in one of the exposed Utirik women, even though this cancer may not be due to radiation exposure, makes it necessary that we increase our surveillance of this exposed population. This population had received only a low level exposure to fallout. During the pa toyears there has been an increasing dissatisfaction on the part of the UririlWsarding the lack of any monetary compensation for their fallout exposure, such as the Marshallese people had received. I pointed out that I am worried that these people might refuse to submit to our examinations and that outside groups such as the Micronesian congress, lawyers, Trusteeship -council might encourage or. actually instigate litigation. Early settlement with a minimal monetary payment would preclude this unpleasant possibility and insure a favorable attitude for our examinations. Mr. Johnston pointed out that already he heard that one of the Marshallese (Senators?) was talking about payment to the Utirik people. He agreed that early action was indicated and that he would look into the matter soon and keep in touch with me. I do not know where the funds would come from for this. In view of the attitude of the Micronesian congress probably not from the T.T.; perhaps from the Department of Interior or AEC? 3. Radiological Monitoring of the Bikini People. Mr. Johnston indicated: that the present plan was not to return the Bikini people to their home island until after the village was completed and their land could support them, a matter of five or more years. Small groups of Bikini men might return at times but no real habitation of the island would take place for a number of years. He said that he felt that the bunker that we had wanted to use for the whole body counting could probably be used without any rental(the previous rental quotation was exorbitant), due to a change in the attitude of tle magistrate. I pointed out that it would not be feasible to reconstruct the bunker now since the DASA work team had left the island. Moreover, we intend to try doing some whole body counts on board the ship this year. If successful it would be a simple matter to go by Bikini for a couple of days and bring the people on board for counting. If this did not pan out Mr. Johnston indicated that use of the new dispensary to be constructed at Bikini might be feasible. Since it will be some time before any sizeable number of Bikini people are back there is no urgency to the problem and it is believed collection of urine samples for radiochemical analyses will suffice in the meantime, I was glad to have the opportunity to meet Mr. Johnston and Mrs. Farrington and feel that they have a real interest in our problems and willingness to cooperate in every way possible, Mr. Radewagon said that as Mr. Johnston's liaison officer in Washington he would appreciate receiving copies of correspondence and would be happy to help out whenever he could. DOE ARCHIVES RAC: jr encls,. Sincerely, Robert A. Conard, M.D. 44