Note 15: Senator Anjain's letter The letter from Senator Anjain speaks for itself. It should be compared with the body of the text of the present Report. I would, however, like to comment on one point, namely, my failure to transmit Dr. Bertell's letter to the Congress immediately on receiving it. The reason was this: I did not consider her report good enough to be transmitted by me as part of my work as Referee. I may add that Dr. Bertell had testified before the Congress at the April 26, at the invitation of Senator Anjain. 1988, hearing, Her letter (as did her testimony) dealt with two major topics. First, an attempt to show that somehow living on Rongelap per se affected the blood cell counts. I enclose my letter to Dr. Muckle, a pathologist she consulted about this work. Dr. Muckle agreed that when all of the data were reviewed, no tangible results were evident. Second, the survey of child health led to suggestions that something was radically wrong and that radiation would be the presumptive cause, owing to currently living on Rongelap. I do not consider the data convincing. No mention is made of the usual levels of infant and child health in the Marshalls, and how difficult it would be against such a background to establish radiation as a cause. On this score I quote from the Report of the Task Force on Health (December 17, 1985), chaired by Mrs. Carmen Bigler, RepMar Secretary of Interior and Outer [sland Affairs: The task force believes that the central problem facing the health care system is a reversal of priorities;...an appropriate medical system must provide first the essentials of health through public health education, immunization, clean water, sanitation, family planning, community-based dispensary system, and infectious disease control. For more specific information, I suggest reading "Current Living Conditions of Children in the Marshall Islands", a Report of general information for submission to UNICEF, Republic of the Marshall Islands, June 1984. 83