1171
Mr. Yares. Were the Bikini people under Federa) redistion
;eet They were but the radiation dose from intake of food
to mise.
Mr. Vares, Did any go over the topt
Mr. Diss. None of
the
¢ have
bh
'
1
gone over the top as far as the
cesium levels. They ‘are veryclose to“the maximum Mowabh dose
from the mazimum of permissible amounts of cesium.
Mr. Yarss. Are the rople living in the houses along the road?
Dia. Yes. and they are getting the radioactivity in their bodies
from their diet, from eating the Jocally grown foods.
;
;
In retrospect, this is probably the big mistake made in the beginning of the resettlement program in that we made recommendationwhich turned out to be impractical in the sense that to have gardengrowing but then tel] the people not to eat the products.
Mr. Yares. Was he told to grow his garden and eat that food’! Wahe told that he could do that t
;
t
The original recommendations prohibited eating certain
of the Joca! foods.
~
Mr. Yarts. This is right. But I think I read here the’ houses were
built on pads of coral and that thev were told not to eat the coconut
crab. You say you brought in outside foods at the initia) stages.
Was this to cut down on the possible intake of radiation residuals’
Did vou bring in outside food from thestart ¢
EaL.
Yes. sir.
CURRENT FEEDING PROGRAM OX BIKINI] ISLANDE
Mr. Yares. I guess outside food is still being brought in.
Mr. peYorxe. It was not until early last vear. Mr. Chairman. that
_ the tree crops and some of the other vegetable crops began to become
fully productive. So up until 1977 they had been existing primarily
on food products that were brought in from the outside. Some of these
Were surplus agricultural commodity foods plus the Jocal marine food
which had been certified to be suitable.
.
MOXTTORING OF BIKINI ISLAND
Mr. Yarzs. When did they get the cesium then?
.
Mr. peYorxe. As Mr. Deal indicated, when this high level of cesium
was revealed, a series of analyses were carried out.
Mr. Yates. When was it revealed {
Mr. peYoun.in 1976.
Mr. Yates. Then the Department—were you still the AEC in 1976!
r. Dear, We were ERDAin 1976.
tT.
_
YaTzs. So you became 8 little more alarmed than when Four were
the Atomic Energy Commission. In °76 youfirst encountered this kind
of a test. stannialthat you had been making of the people ?
¥ Dear. Yee sir.
Tr. YATES. yp kind of tests, monthly, semiannually, every four
months. or w
om
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