material to obtain a real number, it there may be, use of food products is clear that the plutonium concen- from Bikini would lead to higher body trations are almost 100 times any burdens and therefore higher concen- shown in Table 3 for terrestrially trations of plutonium in the urine derived food products in the New of the Bikini population. York diet. For example, if one assumes an It is not yet clear just how much average plutonium concentration of of the different food products grown 0.6 pCi/kg fresh weight in all the on Bikini Island are actually used terrestrial food products of Bikini in the diet. Island and a combined intake of all use However, whatever the foods of 100 g/day or 36.5 kg/yr, (and there is undoubtedly some) then the yearly plutonium intake and whatever increased future use would be 21.9 pCi, compared to the 1.45 pCi (1.6 pCi minus the intake Table 4. Concentrations of 239,240, from shelifish, fresh fish, and water) in foods grown on Bikini estimated by Bennett? for New York. Island*; the sign ''<" denotes the detection limit Thus, plutonium levels in a diet centration was somewhere below this limit. entirely derived from Bikini terres-~ for that sample; actual con- trial foods are 15 times the levels Concentration, pCi/kg (fresh) Food product in a terrestrial diet from New York. Marine Food Pathway — Marine food Bikini June 1975 Pandanus <2.7 products from Bikini Atoll supply a Breadfruit <3.6 substantial amount of plutonium to Papaya the diet for the inhabitants. 0.67 Some Coconut <0.27 plutonium concentrations in fish at Squash <3.6 Bikini Atoll have been published by Pig muscle Nevissi and Schell.) 0.72 Chicken flesh These data are abstracted in Table 5 along with some <6.3 data on concentrations in marine Bikini 1974 Banana” <3.6 invertebrates./4 Papaya? <1.8 trations in fish muscle and eviscer- Squash? <9.0 ated whole fish and the detection Pandanus® <1.8 limits (denoted in Table 5 by ''<'"') as real numbers, and weighting by the “pata from a survey by one of the authors. 4 Data from Ref. number of fish per sample, we find the mean concentration of plutonium 12. -10- Sia, 50) 3230 Using the concen-