i l | | in their islands? Did the Rongelapese and Utirikese ask for the bomb to he detonated and to be irradiated? Did they request skin burns, thyroid nodules and cancer and possibly leukemia be given to them as a gift from the United States? Did these people ask to suffer in silence for more than ten years before receiving any compensation? Did these people ask to be deprived of their ancestral homes and to have them irradiated, too? Did these people ask to inherit an anxious and uncertain future for themselves and their children? Most certainly not. Furthermore, the Committee wishes to make known its feelings that while the United States of America is primarily responsible for this situation, such burden must also be shared equally on a moral level with the Trust Territory of the Pacific Islands Government, if it is, in fact, possible to separate the United States of America from the Trust Territory Administration, As a consequence, the Committee is of the opinion that not one penny of revenues collected by the Congress should be spent for the care and welfare of these people and similarly not one penny should be diverted from the U.S. Federal Grant funds for the purposes of funding an obligation incurred by other agencies and instrumentalities of the United States Government. The Committee would also like to comment briefly on the nature and intent of its recommendations. Through its studies and investigations the Committee has discovered that exposure to radiation such as that experienced by the Rongelapese and Utirikese has long range implications, It isa sad but true fact that nothing can be said with certainty about the condition of the people except that they face an uncertain future, not develop for thirty or forty years after exposure. Some effects may As Dr, Darling commented about the Japan studies, "This is really a 50 year ball game." 168