cOPY May 4, 1966 MEMORANDUM FOR CHAIRMAN SEABORG COMMISSIONER PALFREY COMMISSIONER RAMEY COMMISSIONER TAPE THROUGH GENERAL MANAGER SUBJECT: CURRENT STATUS OF THYROID NODULES AMONG THE MARSHALLESE EXPOSED TO FALLOUT FROM THE BIKINI TEST OF MARCH 1, 1954 In our last memorandum on this subject, October 11, 1965, it was noted that a cumulative total of 11 instances of nodular thyroid glands had been found in the 69 surviving Marshallese who had been exposed to fallout from the subject test while on Rongelap and on Ailingnae, All but one of these cases were in young people who were less than 10 years old at the time of exposure, The single exception was in a 4l-year-old woman (approximately 30 at time of exposure) who was found to have a carcinoma of the thyroid at operation. Dr. Robert A. Conard of the Medical Department of Brookhaven National Laboratory, and leader of the annual (or more often) medical surveys of these people, has just returned from the latest survey conducted during February and March of 1966. He reports that an additional five cases of nodular thyroids have been diagnosed in this group. The present cumulative incidence is shown in the following table. Age at Exposure 1-5 6-10 11-15 16-20 > 20 Number Exposed 16 9 7 5 Total Incidence of Nodules Through March 1966 Number 9 4 0 0 32 3 69 16 Percent 56 44 --- 9 25 COPY 27