Mr. Thomas S, Dunmixe j . . : e . -2: : : _* ole P.L. 88-485 provided $950,000 (less 5% for legal fees) in equal payments ‘to 82 exposed inhabitants of Rongelap Atoll or their heirs. The individual payments amounted to about .$11,000. P.L. 88-485 contained ‘a provision to the effect that "oayment made under the provisions of this. . Act shall be in full settlement and discharge of all claims against the United States arising out of the thermonuclear detonation on Macch 1, -1954,"'. That release provision operated to discharge all obligations of.. the U;5. Goverment; including any that might arise from further damage suffered by the inhabitants. However, the statute expressed the wish gx ‘of Congress to assume “compassionate responsibility" to compensate the Rongelapese for their "radiation exposures.'' The failure to anticipate health cffects that were not evident at the time the legislation was under consideration.vy.the Congress but which-have become apparent since then .. s:.,., could provide the basis for reopening the issue of compensation, . ‘Lt is’well kmow that radiation injury may give rise to tumor develor‘sent after a period of many years. The inadequacy of the period of observation vuntil 1963 Zor the occurrercce or detection of such late effects was expressed in a letter dated March 14, 1963, from John A. Carver, Jr., Assistant Secretary of the Interior, to Hon. Weyne N. Aspinall, Chairman, Committee on Interior and Jnsuler Afieirs, House of Representatives, The letter is included in H.R. Raport No. 110, part of the legislative history of P.L. 88-485. The relevant portions of the Letter are as follows: In the period immediaz gelapese were effected by nausea and itching, a substantial number sustained temporary sxin burns, end somewhat less than half sustained soma desree of loss of hair, also temporary. In some cases there ‘remain some scarring and pigment change at the former site of deeper burns but no evidence of cancerous change in these scars has been noted, In all of the Rongelapese there was significant depression cf their blocd-forning organs during the 2 months following exposure; recovery has taken place in the ye: ‘-s since and the counks are now generally consicered within normal canges, although there are.a few instances where the counts are lower than in comparable unaffected individuals. ‘ There is, to date, no evidence of leukemia nor of radiation illness. Further, whether or not the radiation has had any life-shortening effects is not apparent. .It docs appear, however, that bone develop-. ment in young children who were affected by the fallout may have been retarded, and also that there is a possibility of a somewhat greater incidence of miscarriages and stillbirths among the exposed women. Neither sufficient time has elapsed nor sufficient knowledge acquired to permit positive conclusions to be drawn as to the long-range effect of the fallout on the Rongelapese.