Of interest among the twelfth annual medical sutvey observations was the absence of thyroid abnormalities in the 40 Utirik children examined who were of the same ages as the high-incidence group of exposed children on Rongelap, .The Utirik children had received considerably less radiation exposure, BACKGROUND Following the detonation of a thermonuclear device on March 1, 1954, during atmospheric tests in the Pacific Proving Grounds, an unpredicted shift in winds caused deposition of significant amounts of fallout on four inhabited atolls east of Bikini. and Utirik Atolls. These were Rongelap, Ailinginae, Rongerik Rongelap received the largest radiation exposure. Eighty-two people of Rongelap Atoll were accidentally exposed to fallout radiation where the average whole body exposure was approximately 175 roentgens,. — Additional amounts of radiation resulted from absorption of radioiodine in the thyroid glands. Since that time the U.S. Atomic Energy Commission and the © Trust Territory of the Pacific Islands have sponsored annual medical surveys of the exposed people. The surveys are carried out by a Brookhaven National Laboratory team, headed by Dr. Robert A. Conard from the Laboratory's Medical Research Center. Immediately after the 1954 exposure the people were evacuated to Kwajalein Atoll for treatment and were subsequently on Majuro Atoll until 1957 when they were returned to Rongelap. On their return to their home atoll the United States provided them with a new village and other facilities and services ’ to assist their re-establishment. The current population of Rongelap is - about 228 persons. ‘Last year Congress appropriated $950,000 as “compassionate relic£" payment to the exposed population. + -6- 513 ¢305 -FO 29°