ACIS ER0 LAES e Radioactive by Giff Juhason he “Year ot the Ammal” is how 5 mans Marshallese describe the nuclear depacs that has brought them severely retarded and physically deformed children. Women on dozens ofthe tiny istands are plarucd with misvarnaces and babies with birth defects, bul the t nued States government has fot taken ans action to study the pos- Wools’ 1946 to Reongelup Atoll 125 miles east, were evacuated fram their islunds as a prevaution, On March 1, 1954, the U.S. detonated Bravo. the largest hydrogen boinb tested an Bikini. At fifteen mega- tons. it was P.)Sthtimes bigger than the Haroshima atomic bamb which killed 100.000 peaple. Why the Rongelap people were not evacuated, or even givenan offical warning that the test was to take plice, remains a mystery Within hours of the March 1 test, baunouchve fallout reached Rongelap and nearby Uturik Atoll, By mid-afternoon the fullout was two inches deep on the ground Not warned of any precautloms to take, the Marshallese were outside as the powonous ash fell on their wns, feet. and heads Pcople on Ronpelun began tovomut. and their skin Weed terribiv, within days burns appeared on their skin and many lost some or all of their hair. human exposed. Moreover, a little-known 1978 Departmen of Energy, (DOE) study shows islands in Rongelap have higher radiation levels than some islands in Bikini 19458. sixty-six homb tests at Bikini—-the people from radiation data on beings.” Mansy Rongclapese who had not been unexposed people eventually became problems and radiation exposure. From logical on the atoll during the fallout in 1954 returmed in 1957. Living on radioactive islands and consuming local foads. the sibility of a connection between these announced nuclear tests devastated the peaceful atolls of Bikini and Enewetahk. whose residents had been moved to other iiands in the Marshalls. Fortthree tests were conducted at] newetak and twenty-three at Bikint. In 1946. priot ta Operation Crosstoads the first series of “smali” atomic the tslind will afford most valuable eco- which have been declared unlivable for twenty years. Yet thes have been living on Rongelap since the PACIFIC surgery for remuval cf thyroid nouuies, some cancerous. In 1972, a youth barely a vear old when exposed in 1954 died of leukemia. And the health of the people, instead of improving with time, has grown worse. A 1977 government study says: “Recenth about 50 percent of the exposed Rongelap people showed hypothyroidism ... a finding that probably portends trouble ahead “ Just three vears after the Bravo test, the Atomic Energy Commission (AEC) said that despite “slight lingering radiation” Rongeiap was sate and its people could return. A 1957 Brookhaven medical report for the AFC said: “Even though the radioactive contam.nation of Rongelap Island ts considered per- AEC said it was safe in 1957. In early 1979, however. DOE screntists told the people not to use the highly radioactive northern islands in their atoll. Meanwhile, for twenty years the Uturik people have heard the AEC doctors tell them that their radiation exposure was too low to cause harmiul effects. The Utirik people received less than one-tenth the dose of the Rongelupese Nevertheless, in 1976, twenty- two years after their exposure, the UCurik peopie’s cancer and thyroid disease rate rose sharply to equal that of the heavily exposed Rongelap people The government now confirms that thyroid cancer is more prevalent in people with lower exposures than those who were highly exposed. The Uurik people angrily responded to this development in a 1976 letter to the AEC, saving the AEC doctors “look at the people of Utirik as ifthey were merely animals ina fectty safe for human habitation, the levels of activity are higher than those found in other inhabited locations inthe world. The habitation of these peuple on scientilic experiment. The people tee! that the [medical] program sin need of Laboratory Giff Johnson has traveled extensive.s inthe South Pacthe and Micronesia. and spent three months inthe Marshall Islands in 1979 ona research (rip, interviewing people from and Enewetah were affected by the nuclear testing. An obscure Department twche at the time of exposure have had he has written tar the Bullen of the Atomic Scientists, the Prowresave. and Chessy Magazine, among others. Since 1° edited the Mflicronesian Sur mittee’s quatterls Bulletin Honolulu. Brookhaven National repoms show that during the first four vears after Bravo, the exposed Rongelap women had a miscarriage rate twice that Of unexposed women. Nincteen of The twenty-two children under the age of fo November @ Decem! 3x0 many of the wlainds. A free-lance pournalist, vast changes.” For vears the U.S. claimed that only the atolls of Uurik. Roneclap. Bikini. of Energy report in 197% said. however. that in addition to these four atolls, “eleven other atolls or single islands received intermediate range fallout from one or more of the megaton tests.” One of these atolls ts Ailuk. 250 miles sast of Bikini, where in a population of