OFFICIAL USE ONLY
1.
Reduce the use of contaminated food and water to
bare minimum until adequate monitoring can be done; use
first any stored clear water and canned or covered foods;
wash and scrub any exposed foods and;
2.
If the effects of lack of food and water become acute,
then use whatever is available but in as limited quantities as
possible, and whenever possible make a selection of the least
likely contaminated water and/or foodstuffs, and
3.
Since it is especially desirable to restrict the
intake of radioactivity in children, give them first preference
to food and water having the lowest degree of contamination.
One possible evaluation needed in an area of heavy fallout might
be the relative hazards from the external gamma exposure versus internal
doses from ingestion of the material.
(Inhalation is thought to con-
tribute only minor relative doses under the conditions discussed here).
One of the best evidences on this, was the fallout that occurred on the
Rongelapese in March 1954.
Those in the highest exposure group received 175 roentgens whole
body external gamma exposure yet their body burdens of internal emitters
were relatively low (Table Five) .28
These and other data suggest that:
If the degree of contamination of an area for times
immediately following a detonation is such that the external
gamma exposure would permit normal and continuous occupancy
for periods inmediately following a fallout, the internal
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