sustained the only known adverse medical effect up to this time. We
intend that the phrase “such people as resided on Rongelap and Utirik
on March 1, 1954" to include those then in utero. The restriction to
residence in the Marshalls is a pralttical one. We know of no
Rongelapese or Utirikese permanently residing beyond the Marshalls,
but if any chose to do so, we believe it would be almost impossible as
a practical matter to extend the program to them. The Secretary of

the Interior would provide an identification system that would permit

the people of Rongelap and Utirik to receive the special medical care
while within the Marshalls but away from their home islands.

2.

Medical conditions covered.

Section 102 currently requires

that the program provide medical care "for any injury, illness, or
condition which may be the result directly or indirectly of such
nuclear weapons testing program."' While there is no unanimity on the
point, most of the advice received by the Interior Department is that
it is usually impossible to know whether a given injury results from
the testing program or from some other cause. Moreover, even if cause
could be established, there remains the ethical and practical problem
referred to above:
can or should a doctor refuse to treat an illness,
when he is otherwise equipped to do so, if he concludes that it is not
nuclear-related?
Our conclusion, reflected in section 1 of the proposed bill, is that
the distinction should not be attempted. Accordingly, the bill
provides for medical care and treatment to meet any health problea,

not just nuclear-related problems.
3.

"Integrated".

Section 102 requires that the health program

be "an integrated, comprehensive health care program."

We construe

the term to mean that the special health care program contemplated

would be "integrated" to the maximm extent feasible with the programs
provided elsewhere in the Marshall Islands Government.

That

construction would continue under the proposed bill. As an example,
treatment of a Rongelapese with a broken arm could be provided at
local medical facilities, for example at the Majuro Hospital, which is
and would remain the responsibility of the Marshall Islands

Government, but the cost of the treatment would be met by the United
States.
*

*

*

We recognize that if our proposed bill is enacted, the benefits of the

special medical program, as visualized by the law, would be confined
to those explicitly named in it. We also recognize, however, that
there have been contentions from the Government of the Marshall
Islands and others that radiation effects have been experienced by
Marshallese people not associated with the four atolls specified in
the current law. Allegations have been made that there have been
thyroid illnesses, birth abnormalities, and other medical irregularities on certain islands and atolls -- particularly Likiep -- that may
be the result of the testing program. Although the Department of
Energy has been willing to perform studies on Likiep, it has been

unable to outline a study program that is satisfactory to the Marshall
Islands Government, and Likiep and its people are thus far unexamined.

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