17 Rongelap. During that year the health aide was visited frequently for upper respiratory infections (nearly everyone had at Icast one cold during the year). Gastroenteritis was also a frequent complaine. REVIEW OF DATA ON MORTALITY AND PREGNANCY TERMINATION OVER THE PAST SIX YEARS Mortality The four deaths that have occurred in the exposed Rongelap people during the past 6 years give an annualrate of 8.1 per 1000 population. The Marshall Islands annual rate is reported as 6.8 per 1000. The unexposed Rongelap population has had four deaths also, which gives a rate of 8.3 per 1000. These figures do notinclude fetal and infant mortality. The people of Utirik Island, who received about 14 r of radiation in the 1954 accident, have shown a death rate ofabout 10to11 per 1000 population. Their population has varied between 160 and 213 people since the event. Pregnancy Terminations group are compared with those in the unca posed group in Tables 3 and 4. Since anyradiation-induced genetic imperfections that might result in nonviable offspring might be present in the germ plasm ofthe father as well as the mother, two unexposed women mated to exposed men are included in the exposed group. Four children born in 1954 were excluded from the list because they had been conceived before the accident. Table 3 and Figure 10 show the yearly incidence of live births and miscarriages and the sex of babies born of women of child-bearing age in the exposed and unexposed groups. Underthe category of miscarriages are included still births and babies dying a fewhoursafter birth. It was unfortunate that in most cases it was not possible for physicians to inspect the products of miscarriage. Figure 10, a plot of the percentage incidence of miscarriage in the two groups, indicatesthatit is somewhatgreater in the exposed group. The data on pregnancyterminations, summarized in Table 4, also show an increased incidence of mis- carriage in the exposed group. The birth rate in the Marshall Islands in 1957 was 37.3 per 1000 population. The 24 live births During 1958 six miscarriages and stillbirths were recorded in the exposed group, but none was DOE ARCHIVES tT reported in this group for 1959. Only one was re- ported for each of these years in the unexposed women. Pregnancyterminations in the exposed 100 90 + BO r 70 + PERCENT and Rongelap Unexposed (1956-1959) %e Exposed Women giving birth to living children Women with miscarriages* but no live births Women with no recorded pregnancies Women with | or more miscarriages Women with 2 or more miscarriages Pregnancies terminating in miscarriages % Unexposed i] t 4 \ Table 4 Summaryof Pregnancy Termination Data, Rongelap Exposed (1954-1959) T --~- EXPOSED \ UNEXPOSED 1 MISC # TOTAL’ PREGNANCIES \ 4 1 \ \ a \ 1 50 + 3/5 1 \ \ 404+ \ / \ 64 66 18 lt 18 22 4] 28 14 1 35 23 “Includes children dying first few hours after birth. 30 + f / / fo \ \ 1 y 7 —_i 954 55 t EXPOSURE 7 1 /7. 2/8 2/8 1/4 \ \ 4 145 \ 46 10 + 4 \ 6/14 ‘ 2/6/ \ 20 + o 4 \ _L i 1 56 57 58 \ 4 4 \ \o* 59 60 YEAR Figure 10. Incidence of miscarriages and sti]}births in exposed Rongelap women. Sullbirths include babies living only a fewhours after birth. Data on unexposed women are incomplete prior to 1956.