athens.
52
Table 33
”
Urinary Sr°° Levels, in puC/1, of Marshallese, 1959
Males
Age 1-15
Rongelap exposed
Rongelap uncxposed
Allingnae
Utink
Ebeye
Females
Age >15
2.4
(2)°
7.12.0 (3)
-
+5.1 (8)
+28 (9)
(1)
-
+0.9 (5)
0.56+0.37 (4)
Age 1-15
Age > 15
3.9 (2)
~
-
5.4 42.2 (9)
4.2 +23 (6)
3.0
(1)
3.9 (1)
-
2.5
(2)
0.70+0.70 (3)
*The numbers in parentheses are the numbers of people in the groups.
Table 34
DOE ARCHIVES
Cs'*" Body Burdens, in mpC/kg, of Marshallese as Measured by Whole-Body Gamma Spectroscopy, 1959
Males
Age 1-15
Rongelap exposed
Rongelap unexposed
Adlingnae
Utink
12.4+6.2
(9)*
11.8%4.8 (20)
8.9
(2)
4.61.2 (14)
Females
Age >15
Age 1-15
Age >15
14.2+5.1 (10)
14.3222.7 (12)
11.0+3.4 (16)
11.5+3.6 (4)
4.5+1.6 (15)
10.0+3.1 (4)
4541.9 (14)
11.4445 (5)
3.64£1.3 (15)
14.0+4.7 (37)
9.9+2.1 (15)
9.8+2.8 (33)
*The numbers in parentheses are the numbers of people in the groups.
on an average 24-hr urine output of 1660 ml(see
Table 33). No significant difference was found
between the Rongelap exposed and unexposed
groups, although the exposed adult group hada
slightly higher mean value than the unex posed
group. Females tended to have a lower mean Sr*
value than males, but the difference was not sta-
ustically significant. Relatively few children <15
years of age were tested for urinary Sr*°; therefore,
it was not possible to comparetheir levels statisucally with those of the adults. The mean Sr“?
urinary value for an adult inhabitant of Uurik was
1.8 puC/1, which ts about 35%that of the Rongelap group. The control group on EbeyeIsland (not
contaminated) had still lower values, 0.62 ppC/1.
The lack of significant difference between the
exposed and unexposed groups on Rongelap seems
to indicate that essentially no residual Sr°° from
the initial exposure its detectable in the exposed
group.
Cesium-137. The Cs**’ urinary excretion levels
of the Marshallese people for the period from 50
to 180 days following exposure can be expressed
as a single exponential function with a half-life of
70 days (see Figure 56). This figureis not in agree-
ment with the value of 140 days obtained by Anderson,*? but a biological half-time of 51 to 59
days was obtained in clinical study made overa
4-month period following injection of Cs'*’Cl,
into two patients.**
The estimates of body burden of Cs’** in 1958,
derived indirectly from urinalysis, are presented in
Table 32.
The urinary excretion of Cs’*" of 34 puC/I in
1957 indicates that the Rongelap people were exposed to a continuing lowlevel of Cs’** from
stratospheric fallout during 1956 while residing on
Majuro. By contrast, the mean body burden of
Cs?3" in 1957 of the Uurik people (who were returned to their atoll in 1954) was 334 mpC, considerably higher than that of the Rongelap people
who were residing on Majuro at that time.*°° This
higher burden among the Utirik people in 1957
can be attributed to the higher level of Cs?*’ contamination on Utirik than on Mayjuro at that ume.
Zinc-65.
Zn*urinarylevels were not measured
before 1958. With the assumptions that excretion
of Zn®* is exponential and urinaryexcretion is
10% of total excretion (urinary/fecal ratio=),
the March 1958 urinary excretion level of 175