Ayah andi b away th ir my e ---) -speygoutee MOvVe= | Yn aaff 7 . Atmospheric esiing Dangers-4 Short-lived radioactive debris from the Marshall .. Island thermonuclear tests of 11 years ago. caused =. thyroid giand damagein.a significant number of = e islanders, according to the indisputable findings of |} a responsible medical. survey teamThis diss. ing than the findingsof thyroid damagein. Utah ~~ and Arizona children bytactile exammation, for the islanders have undergone surgery-and- treat= ment that leaves no room for errors in“diagnosis. And the isolated circumstances of the islanders* has diminished the possibilityof ‘other causal. 4 factors. Eighteen out of 82 natives inveived haves;| now shown thyroid gland abnormalities. Con--tinuing tests may disciose more:Many have feared such consequences of testing from the beginning. But thetr anxieties were often dismissed notwithstanding much competent medical conjecture on the resuits of exposure to the shortlived debris of the bombs.. The new findings bave raised all the pre-existing fears and doubts to a new level. Hitherto: no one could prove that such results would ensue. Now the tragic proof has been provided. The countries which first tested these weapons could at least plead the absence of demonstrated damage to mankind. Many felt they should have been required to demonstrate the safety of testing. Be that as it may, the nations ef the world are on notice now. BEST COPY AVAILABLE f* f The country that proceeds | with atmospheric testing. in theface of the Mar-~ shall Islands evidence wif! exhibit ac indifference‘ might say they did net know. Now they will have | to admit they knew. but dp netcare if debris fronr . tests maims hapless peeple within fall-out range. One can only presume-that Fremee,in the face. of | this new and frightful- Enowiedge, will not go | ahead with its atmospheric testing of H-bombs | near its Pacific possessions. Stafford Warren DOE/UCLA > NY 4 closure is infinitely more distarbing and. convine-:~.