Although the bill provides for reimbursement of medical care, the major part of the cost will be for transporation since charges for medical and hospital services in the Trust Territory are quite nominal, Section 10 of the bill directs the Office of the High Commissioner "'to seek an executive agreement with the Atomic Energy Commission whereby the expenses under the provisions of this act will be defrayed either directly or on a reimbursable basis by the AEC." - The apparent reason for seeking payment of expenses by the AEC rather than the Department of the Interior is the expectation that Interior would be taken from the federal grant to the Trust Territory. Department funds AEC payment would provide funds in addition to those normally received whereas Interior Department funding would involve a reallocation of existing monies corresponding reduction in some other service. and therefore, a In addition, the AEC is held responsible for conducting the tests in the Marshall Islands and, therefore,''for the damage" (see cover letter in enclosure 3). S. B. No. 89 contains an excessively broad definition of controls; we would suggest that it be narrowed by revision of the bill during the next session of the Micronesian Congress. In Section 3, controls are defined to include ''those persons now living in the Marshall Islands district who were not exposed to fallout from the March 1, 1954, test, but who agree as hereinafter provided in this act, to be examined and tested in like manner as exposed persons.'' We favor limiting the class of controls to persons accepted by the Brookhaven medical team as members of their control population for purposes of their study. Dr, Robert A. Conard, head of the Brookhaven medical survey team, has ale raised a question as to the propriety of including the offspring of the exposed population among persons eligible for benefits under the bill. He feels that the lack of evidence of genetic damage thus far to the offspring of the Japanese A-bomb survivor population makes it unlikely that the Marshallese offspring will show adverse effects as a result of the exposure of their parents. On the other hand, the exclusion of offspring from the bill may be difficult politically, especially since studies on the offspring of Japanese survivors are quite incomplete. 5. In view of the provision in Pp. 6 No. 88-485 that the payment made in 1964 to the Rongelapese discharged all claims against the United States arising out of the detonation, there is probably no legal basis for providing additional Po 5008514 compensation payments to that population in the absence of new enabling legislation. Medical research on the Rongelap population can be justified as in the past. Activities funded under the bill could contribute to the Brookhaven -3-