ARTIOLES
Number of Boys
PROCEDURES
Of the total population of 237 exposed
Birth
Year
to fallout radiation, 112 (47%) were under
the age of 20 years (Table I). Although
some attrition in number has resulted from
inter-island migration and from “gradua-
tion” into the adult category, longitudinal
data have becomeavailable for the majority
of the children. This analysis, however, has
been limited to growth data obtained from
1958 through 1963 on the 38 children ex-
1954
1933
1952
1951
1950
1949
1948
19-47
1946
1945
1944
1943
1942 &
Number of Girls
Exposed.
Unexposed*
Exposed
Unexposed
St
2
1t
7
1
4
$
]
1
1
1
g
2
g
8
4
1
&
1
8
4
$
2
2
1
g
1
2
8
4
2
4
1
2
3
1
posed at Rongelap and Ailingnae atolls
2
(Table III), 4 children exposed in utero, —
1
67 unexposed comparison children, 39 chil.
earlier
. 3
6
_
9g
6
dren born to exposed parents, and 53 children born to unexposed parents on Ronge* Children born prior to December, 1954.
lap subsequentto the radiation fallout.
t Exposed in utero. Whenthe Rongelap people were returned
to their homeisland in 1957, they were after 1957 as the comparison population.
accompanied by a group of relatives and The age-sex statistics of the exposed and
former Rongelap residents who had not unexposed children are shown on Table IV.
been exposed to the fallout. These added
During the evacuation phase, the hospital
people are thought to be ethnologically
comparable to the exposed group. Since
these unexposed people, which included 69
in the pediatric age group, have continued
to live and eat in the same environment as
the exposed islanders, they have been used
TABLEII
NumpBer or CHttpnes ExamMiInep RonGeLar SERIES
Year
of
Ezamination
1954
1958
1959
1960
1961
1962
1963
UnExposed exposed
38
39*
84"
36”
Babies Born after
December, 1954
To UnTo Exposed exposed
Parent(s) Parent(s)
and clinics at Kwajalein and Majuro were
used for the medical surveys. Following
repatriation, examination facilities were set
up on Rongelap. Examinations, however,
have been continued on Kwajalein and
Majuro for those exposed islanders who had
moved there.
Routine annual pediatric work-up on
each child has consisted of interval medical
history, physical examination, physical an-
thropometry, roentgenogram of left hand
and wrist, complete blood count, and urin-
alysis. During the period covered by this
analysis,
ophthalmological studies
were
carried out in 1957, 1958, 1959, and 1962
and dental surveys in 1959 and 1961.
67
50.
30*
50
30*
Q5*
43
36
13
20
10
Spécial laboratory studies for clinical in-
26
32
dications and for survey purposes have in-
24
39
37
33
53
53
fluids, parasitological surveys, chromosome
* Includes 4 who were exposed in utero.
cluded biochemical determinations on body
studies, skin biopsy examinations, radionu-
clide body burden evaluations, immunoelectrophoretic analyses, and studies of
ae
fallout.
TABLE IV
Exrosep anp UNEXxposep Cnitoren RonGELAr SERIES
ooo
of about 370 mr/yr or a total dose of about
3 rads over the 9-year period since the
723