Table 1.
Percent of persons in Marshallese populations
having thyroid nodules (1979).
Age <18 in 1954"
Group
No.
4 with
nodules
4 with
Age >18 in 1954
.
carcinoma
No.
% with
nodules
4 with .
carcinoma
Exposed in 1954
Rongelap
Utirik
ek
42
85
52.4
9.4
4.8
2.4
44
79
15.9
11.4
4.5
1.3
553
0.7
0.2
115
11.3
0.9
103
102
3.9
1.0
1.0
0.0
59
90
6.8
bat
0.0
0.0
1193
1.2
0.25
292
8.2
0.7
Comparison populations
Rongelap
Utirik
Wot je
Likiep
ALL
435
1.4
0.2
38
7.9
2.6 (1 case)
*The comparison populations include children not yet born in 1954.
prevalence not subtracted from exposed estimates.
**Includes 19 people exposed on Ailingnae.
Unexposed
from natural radiation might have been subtracted from the above estimates.
Exposure to natural radiation during the years the people were away from their
home island was not added to the above doses since comparisons are to be made
with unexposed population statistics, in which such exposure is inherent.
Table 3 shows the expected percentage of persons with thyroid nodules
and cancer due to exposure to residual radiation on Rongelap and Utirik.
Esti-
mates are calculated for the highest exposure doses assuming continuous habitation on the islands (half-time habitation for children). The table shows that
the percentage of people with thyroid nodules and cancer would not be detect—
able in a population this size and would be far below the spontaneous incidence. The data presented are probably overestimates in view of the factors
discussed above.
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