BAKAL AND BAKAL _Tks

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ATTORNEYS ATLAW 2 EYED
$408 SEPULVEDA BOULEVARD
CULVERCITY, CALIFORNIA 90230 .
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RONALD G. BAKAL
JUDY ALTAGEN BAKAL

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TELEPHONE
(213) 390-7860

November 15, 1976
Dr. Robert Seamans
Office Energy Résearch §& Development Admin.

Washington,

Re:

D.C.

20545

Our Client:

People of Utirik Atoll, Marshall Islands
Negligence - March 1, 1954

Dear Sir:

This office has been retained by the People of Utirik Atoll,
Marshall Islands, United Nations Trusteeship, to seek compensation
on their behalf for damages they have suffered as a result of the

negligence of the United States Government in the detonation of a
nuclear device on March 1, 1954.

For the last 22 years our clients have suffered from the effects
of their exposure to radiation with only token compensation and
periodic medical treatment which can only be described as experimentation.
Along with the high degree of thyroid tumors, including malignancy,
among the exposed population, evidence has been detected that second
generation children are being genetically afflicted. Besides the
direct physical damage, the entire polulation of the atoll suffers
from the emotional and psychological effects of the expectation of
continuing health problems. Your agency should be well aware of the
enviornmental impact the radiation has had upon the flora and fauna
of Utirik Atoll. Now that the former residents of Bikini Atoll have
been compensated for their property losses by Congressional action,
it is time that the people of Utirik Atoll shall be compensated for
the loss of life, continuing diseases, threat of disease, altered
environment and the humiliation of being treated as human guinea pigs.

Ly awive There. are: still.40 persens alive in the exposed group, living on, the. .- ,
"" “atolls This office nowdemands’ that each and’every member of ‘that’ group be conpensated in the sum of One Million Dollars (31, 000 ,000.00)
for physical and psychological injury. Further demand is made on
behalf of all other inhabitants of the Atoll in the sum of Sixty
Million Dollars ($60,000 ,000.00) for psychological, emotional and

enviormental damages.

emmy 5011532

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