af MARSHALLESbiz SPEAK OUT by Glenn Alcalay I recently returned from a research field trip in the Marshall Islands where 1 conducted many interviews with pec;s™.¢ who are continuing to suffer the long-term effects from radiawim in the aftermath of the United States' atomic testing program in I met with people from Utirik, the Pacific. Wotje, Ebeye and Majuro on their respective atolls, and I was able to learn about some of the ongoing problems and consequent fears and anxieties plaguing these victims of U.S. milictarisa. While on Ebeye Island (in Kwajalein Atoll), I spoke with Jabwe Jojur -- the magi- strate of Rongelap Atoll -- who expressed much fear and apprehension concerning his people who remain on Rongelap. Jabwe ex- plained that since the time of the Department of Energy aerial radiation survey of the Northern Marshalls in 1978, the DOE had placed a quarantine on the northern half of Songelap Atoll, and since 1978 the people of Rongelap are not allowed to reside or collect food or copra from the quarantined area. As Jabwe explained, the fish circulate throughout the Rongelap lagoon (as do other foods in the Marshallese diet) and now the people of Rongelap are quite concerned about eating contaminated foods from their lagoon. wane /s Hawai %5 “@ oo. Merny Oo”: istands - . Jabwe said that the Rongelap people are really frightened about remaining on Rongelp now, and asked me if there was anvthing >hat we could do to insure the safety of the people still on Rongelap. I suggested that “2 obtain the raw data from the 1978 DOE .divey and have independent scientists -i.e., scientists not affiliated with an agency or laboratory of the U.S. government — .ssess the raw data and make recommendations . the people of Rongelap concerning whether chey should remain there, or evacuate due to uangerous levels of residual radiation on sheir atoll. Currently, attorneys working with the Atomic Testing Litigation Projece ‘mn the Marshalls are trying to force the ~OE to surrender the raw data, and when they “et the data it will be distributed to such Toups as Physicians for Social Responsibi(and review. other respectei sctentists for their 19 Jabwe's fears about Rongelap are certainly justified in light of the recent dds closure by the DOE that several atolls -- i not all -- of the Northern Marshalls contai varying levels of residual radiation from the testing era, in addition to several cas of thyroid abnormalities occurring in atolls other than Rongelap and Utirik, wher doctors and scientists from Brookhaven Nati c.cl Laboratory have narrowly focused their past studies. On Utirik, I spoke with Emto Kel, a victim of the fallout who has recently had his thyroid removed. In an interview Ento said: "I now believe that the Atomic Energy Commission (AFC) seientists used us ar the people from Rongelap in an experi- ment to test ‘the bomb.’ When the U.‘ first went to the moon they sent a dos so tha in case something went wrong would not hurt people. The same thins happened when they tested bombs in ou: islands because they considered that + were like animals and were of no impo: tance," When Ispoke with Nine Letobo from Utirik about her perceptions of the radiat: problems, she told me that: "The AEC doctors treat us as if we we: animals for their use and they do not tell us the truth about our problems. Could you please help us to find hone: doctors to tell us the truth about ou. sicknesses? I also believe that all « the Marshall Islands have ‘poison,’ a I now believe that the AEC doctors ha‘ been keeping secrets from us for many years about our condition." While on Ebeye, I talked with Almira Matayoshi from Rongelap who conveyed the following: "In 1978 I was in Japan to attend an anti-bomb conference. At Nagasaki an: Hiroshima hospitals we visited the bo victims. The people told us of some women who had committed suicide becau they felt they were in prison and cou not visit their relatives. This is t same feeling we now have living on Eb due to our inability to visit our fam lies on Rongelap where we refuse to live because of the 'poison.' (Tne ttaee nd en Maer AN