SLIDES 45-47 Mode of intake. Ingestion of fish and locally grown food items were assumed to be predominant intake pathways. This hypothesis was based on direct observation of diet habits, the correspondance of increasing or decreasing body burdens with availability of locally grown food products, and the results of airborne activity measurements. The dietary intake of 137¢, was a major component contributing to the committed effective dose equivalent for the years after the initial contamination of the atolls. For persons whose diet included fish, 6574 was a major component of committed effective dose equivalent for the initial years post return to Utirik. Diet habits varied from atoll to atoll and depended on the quantity and quality of imported foods. At Bikini during the 1970's and when body burdens rose rapidly, imported foods were described as bland and tasteless. Differences in diet were observed directly by us and may be related to the fact that atoll to atoll body-burden ratios were not similar to ratios for levels of activity in plants or animals. oy P\, ;