FIVE MARSHALL ISLANDERS TO BE EXAMINED AT
BROOKHAVEN MEDICAL CENTER

Upton, New York, May

, 1966.

Five people from Ronge lap Atoll in the

Marshall Islands of the Pacific will be brought to the Medical Research
Center of AEC's Brookhaven National Laboratory at Upton, L.I., Ne¥., this
month for clinical examination and possible surgery.

They have nodules --

a thickening or hardness -- in their thyroid glands which appear to be the
result of exposure to fallout radiation from an atmospheric nuclear detonation at Bikini 12 years ago.

Of the five, one is a mature woman, three are

girls in their early teens, and one is a young woman under 21 years of age.
The five additional cases, noted early’ this year during the continuing
annual medical surveys of the islanders, bring the total number of thyroid
cases to 16 out of the original 82 Rongelap people who were exposed,

The

thyroid nodules were first detected in March, 1964, during the tenth annual
medical survey of the people of Rongelap and Utirik Atolls,

Thirteen of 19

children in the more heavily exposed group, all of whom had been exposed at
less than ten years of age, had nodules.

All nodules of those children who

were examined or treated surgically were foundto be benign.

Only one per-

son, a woman of 40 years, had cancer of the thyroid, for which she received
surgery a year ago, and is now doing well.

In addition, there were two boys

with hypothyroidism in the exposed group who had previously shown growth
retardation.

These boys have improved as a result of the thyroid hormone

therapy instituted six months ago.

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