Lessard to Meinhold -2- May 2, 1983 Dr. Adams feels that several cases of nodule incidence may he fortuitous. Dr. Adams based his opinion on surgical notes and must confer with members of the early medical teams directly before reaching a conclusion. For completeness these data have been included in Table One. To date no lethal thyroid cancers have been observed in the exposed population. Table 2 on Page 42 of the Report has numbers of people which are not in agreement with data gathered by us (compare Table 2 to Table One of this correspondence for specific differences). Table 2 also has a footnote for the Internal Dose columns regarding an assumption without indicating the basis for the assumption. The relationship between thyroid absorbed dose from I-131 to that from I-132, [I-133 and I-135 was dependent upon the age of the fallout and not constant with time. A factor of 2.5, as indicated in the footnote, could not apply equally to Ailinginae, Rongelap and Utirik groups*since they were irradiated at different times nost detonation of BRAVO, the accident which led to their exposure. On Page 41, line 14 of the Report was written that "7 total cases of thyroid cancer... whereas 2 were expected...". We feel an accurate statement to be that: 4 cases of thyroid cancer were found in the irradiated group at Rongelap Atoll whereas 0.56 were expected and 2 cases of thyroid cancer were found in the irradiated group at Utirik Atoll whereas 1.4 were expected. It is our concern that careful gathering and representation of basic data may not have been done consistently throughout the Report. We feel all statements and calculations be independently verified prior to approval of the Report by the NCRP. Sincerely yours, , MM Wl ETL: 1m — . PG td. Ao Edward T. Lessard Attachment: Table One Co80 - Conard, Robert, M.D., 1980, Review of Medical Findings in a Marshallese Population Twenty-six Years Arter Accidental Exposure to Radioactive Fallout, Brookhaven National Laboratory, Upton, N.Y., BNL #51261.