OBA1 Marshall Islander’s Death Tied to Fallout : i” | ‘Casualty Commissional Japa- Britain were included in the ;nese-American agency —- has party, and this apparently re- By WALTER SULLIVAN a disorder typical of radiation'than 100,000 survivors of the‘visit been made earlier, howexposure has occurred among'hombs dropped on Japan. Fromiever, it is possible ¢hat ihe those subjected to heavy fall-'their histories the total num-|leukemia case might have been ou from nuclear weaponstests. ber of “ THE NEW YORK TIMES, TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 21, 1972 The first known death from been following somewhat less assured the skeptics. Had the leukemia deaths hasjidentified at a less advanced The victim was a 19-year-old been estimated at 330, com-/ stage. Rongelap islandern amed ipared to 230 to be expected! It was this last visit that disAnjain, who died last Wednes-iin a normal population of equal:closed the thyroid nodules reday of leukemia at the Na-'size. imoved in Cleveland last week. tional Institutes of Health in! According to Dr. Gilbert W./At least one was found harm- Bethesda, Md., after an inten- Beebe of the National Researchiless, or “benign.” Mr. Anjain sive effort to stem rapid prog- Council, a participant in thejand one ofhis five brothers had’ ress of the disease with chem- study, the incidence reached:had such nodules removed. One! icals. lits peak seven or cight years’brother, at school in Hawaii,! : Mr. Anjain was one of 64:after the bomb blasts, How-iWwas brought to Bethesda as aj inhabitants of Rongelap Atolliever, he said yesterday, the'blood donor during the effort who were subjected in 1954 to leukemia death rate cannot yet to save Mr. Anjain’s life. a “snowfall” of fresh, heavy be said to have returned to; Dr. Conard pointed out that fallout from a hydrogen bomb normal. explosion over Bikini Atoll, 100)| miles to the west. Islanders Health Checked Over the years, the islanders! iit was never possible to fix the biame for the onset of a he disease like leukemia, However said For the last 18 years, Dr. the chances were “fairly good” have continued to display ap- Robert A. Conard, a specialist’ that in this case it was a result’ parent effects of theirexposure. in radiation effects at Brook- of fallout exposure. Two of them, for example,:Naven National Laboratory, and: The explosion that showered were operated on in Cleveland his colleagues have been paying fallout on Rongelap, when Mr. last week to remove thyroid Periodic visits to check on the Anjain was a year old, was nodules,manifestati which have been a health of the Rongelap island-.the same that rained radiation on. But until,€rs. Rongelap Atoll is a neck- material on the Japanese fishtypical now none had contracte d leu- lace of 6) islets in the Marshalliing vessel Lucky Dragon. How‘Islands. ; fever, according to Dr. Conard, kemia, in somewhich is known to be, cases, a long-delayed’| The most obvious effect of none of the men on board consequence of radiation ex-|the exposure, Dr. Conard said.have died of23radiation-r elated posure. iyesterday, has been the devel-'disease. The device fired over ‘opment Death Rate Is Up of thyroid nodules.!Bikini was reportedly the first ‘They have been surgically re- deliverable hydrogen bomb. It is estimated that of 284-.moved and often found to be 000 survivors of the atomic,of a harmless type. On the last 10 Hours of Fallout bomb attacks on Hiroshima and visit, in September, Lekoj An-. The fallout began on RongeNagasaki, about 100 have died jain was found to have a some-/ep some 4 or 5S hours after of leukemia who would not what depressed count of white,the explosion and continued have had they not been ex- blood corpuscles. posed to radiation from the; bombs. for 10 or 12 hours. The primary A follow-up test showed an:¢xposure was from particles leven lower count and he was:emitting gamma rays so pene- Since 1950 the Atomic Bomb:flown to Brookhaven, where thejtrating that if a person was ‘diagnosis was myelogenous leu-jindoors or outdoors, probably -kemia. A hospital plane took:made little difference in his ex- jhim to eBthesda, where the posure, Dr. Conard said. ‘most advanced chemical ther-! Such “close-in” fallout is parWapy was administered. jticularly dangerous because it He shared a room, at thelis still rich in material that de- O'clinical center of the National cavs rapidly and becomes harmInstitutes of Health, with Stew-iless within a few hours. The Niart Alsop, the columnist, who total exvosure of the islanders was in with lobar pneumonia.'was believed to have been 175 > mew TD Meo wo - BEST COPY AVAILABLE Mr. Alsop’s column in News-:rads (a dosage unit) which, Dr. week on Oct. 30 was on “Lekoj Conard added, had not been exand the unusuable weapon.” jnected to produce a high leuThe visit to the islanders in kemia incidence. September was delayed six; In addition to those at Ron- months, reportedly because ofeclap and suspicions raised by a repre-iDragon, 18 sentative of the Marshallese iniwere also the Micronesian Legislature,|doses were aboard the Luckv on Ailingne Island exvosed, but the estimated at only who charged that the American,about 69 rads. Anv dose in ex- ' — "Imedical team was not being‘cess of 600 rads is considered Jeandid about its mission. lalmost invariably fatal. The To prepare the way for the:'Rongelap islanders were evacuSeptember trip two Japaneseiated and they did not return physicians and another fromluntil 1957.