4O U5 29 5 BROOKHAVEN NATIONAL LABORATORY ASSOCIATED UNIVERSITIES, INC. FB EE Upton, New York 11973 Safety & Environmental Protection Divisior (516) 345-4210 February 6, 1978 Dr. W. W. Burr, Jr., M.D. Deputy Director Division of Biomedicine and Environmental Research U.S. Department of Energy Washington, D.C. 20545 Dear Dr. Burr: The nuclear weapon which was exploded on Bikini Atoll on March 1, 1954 resulted in an inadvertent exposure of the Marshallese living on the islands Rongelap and Utirik. In addition, other islands in the Bikini Atoll received fallout in significant amounts. The USAEC, now DOE, instituted an extensive medical and environmental program aimed at understanding the effects of such fallout on the people and their environment. These programs are being continued. However, through all of these extensive efforts the Marshallese were in essence observed as subjects of the study and not as participants in a joint venture aimed at understanding the interaction of radiation in the environment and man. In recent times the Marshallese have expressed their concern over the lack of such communication and are now taking the stand: "You (DOE) have learned so much from us but in return we know nothing of what you are doing, why you are doing these observations, and what your studies mean to us." Recognizing the urgent need for an effort to mitigate the growing concern of the Marshallese over what has been happening during the past 23 years and also recognizing that the very future of DOE programs can be jeopardized, and Brookhaven National Laboratory had one of its scientists, Dr. Janakiram Naidu, spend six weeks on Rongelap in an effort to educate the Rongelap people on matters pertaining to the effects of radiation on man. It was obvious from the start that one could not present a sophisticated science such as nuclear interactions, effects of radiation on living cells, etc., in a language capable of only exchanging basic thoughts and needs. However, the very presence of a person willing to live like them, eat their food and be available to answer, within the limits of the language, their questions on radiation, on our role in the islands, on what has happened to them and on what could happen to them in the future, has appeared to have reassured them that they were finally being recognized as individuals and not as they have felt as "guinea pigs". Success in these preliminary efforts has prompted us to propose an extension of this educational program to other islanders that were exposed to fallout such as those in Utirik, and to those islanders who will be returning to islands that re were exposed to fallout such as Bikini, Enewetak, etc. - so1agus . Fae ahh ge ot |