292 CONARD ET AL. 10000 E ! o b ToT l ! 3 q RONGELAP SUBJECT “50 MAY 1958 TOTAL 43,260 CPM ABOVE BACKGROUND a 4 fetid TTTMy Lt ti cil TTT cs!?” oO Q Li tried T 100 TTT COUNTING RATE / CHANNEL iN CPM E CHANNEL WIDTH 020 Mev 0.2 l L | —L 04 06 O8 LQ 12 GAMMA RAY ENERGY IN Mev tht 4 l. 6 LS 2.0 Fic. 5. Body burden of y-ray isotopes in Rongelap man (No. 50, exposed in 195-4) after he had been living on Rongelap island for nearly 1 vear. é YE 9S) substantiated bythe following findings: the early symptomsof nausea and vomiting were mild, transitory, and did not recur; the hematopoietic depression was insufhcient to result in clinical evidence of increased susceptibility to infection or in gross bleeding; no obvious effects on fertility, or on children who were irradiated in utero, or on the course of pregnancies were noted; and, lastly, no deaths have occurred that appeared to resemble acute or late radiation deaths that have been described. At 4 years postexposure, the only remaining evidences of the initial radiation exposure to be found are (1) the lag in complete recovery of certain peripheral blood ele- ments to the levels of the comparison population; (2) remaining residua of the or Tw ttt cri B-ray lesions of the skin; and (3) lowlevels of remaining radioisotopes absorbed internally. Late effects of radiation exposure have not been seen, but certain of the more fundamental of these effects that have been observed in animals and to «a lesser extent in man will be mentioned in relation to the Marshallese. 1. Shortening of life span (2, 3, 6) has not been evident. The 3 deaths that have occurred in the exposed population do not appear to indicate a higher mortality rate than seen in the comparison populations. From these observations it would appear that some of the higher estimates of life shortening per roentgen may be too high. 2. Premature aging (1, 4, 7, 14) 1s difficult to assess. From observations over the past + years the impressionis that the exposed people have neither aged faster nor appear older than similarly aged unexposed Marshallese. No doubt the subtle