ah at Oe ee
14
Hematocrits. In both exposed groups the hematocrit levels were not remarkably
different from the control levels (Table 6).
Speciai examination of blood smears, stained for alkaline phosphatase, was car-
ried out or both exposed and control groups. No significant findings in regardtoa
leukemic process were reported but this examination yielded good baseline data on
these popu:ations for future examinations, In this connection basophile counts based
on a 4000 cell count of each individual showed no significant increase in basophiles in
any exposed individual.
4
Ophthalmic Examination
Results
Ocular disorders were observed in 45 of the 91 Rongelap people, and in 24 of the
57 controis. These disorders are presented in Table 7 and are summarized as follows:
a) Pterygii were the most common, occurring in 27 percent of the Rongelap and
18 percent of the control people.
b) Pengueculae occurred in 19 percent of the Rongelap and 11 percent of the control group. The greatest incidence was in the 40 to 60 age group.
c) Cataracts were found in 16 percent of the Rongelap and 11 percent of the control group. Of the cataracts noted in the Rongelap group, 14 percent were of the senile
type and occurred at an average age of 60.4 years. Two percent ofthe cataracts were of
the congenital type. In the controls, all were of the senile type and occurred at an
average age of 65.3 years.
d) Corneal Pigmentation was observed in a large number of both the Rongelap and
control people and was considered to be a racial characteristic. The remainder of the
ocular disorders found ({arcus senilis, strabismus, corneal scars, healed choroiditis,
retinopathy, etc.) were about equally distributed in the Rongelap and control groups.
There were three cases of cataracts (two in the Rongelap group and one in the
control group) which caused severe impairment of vision and necessitated surgical
removal. A pterygium was also removed from one of the Rongelap people.
All lens opacities and cataracts could be classified as congenital, presenile, or
senile. There were no opacities that resembled those due to the effects of radiation.
It was not known whether or not the whole-body dose of 175 r of gamma radiation received by the Rongelap people would result in opacities of the lens at a later date. The
incidence of cataracts and other ocular disorders observed in the Rongelap and control
people was consistent with what might be expected when their racial background and
the climatic conditions under which they live were taken into consideration.
Analysis for Internal Radioisotopes
Radiochemical analysis of 57 liters of chemically treated pooled Rongelap urine
showed that the precipitate contained strontium-90 in the amount of 64 + 4
disintegrations/min, with a like amount of yttrium-90. The greatest activity, present
in the amount of 700 + 10 disintegrations/min, was identified as due to cerium-144 -
praseodymium-i44, Earlier studies had shown that the average 24-hr urine output of
the Marshallese was 580 mi. Thus the 57 liters represented about 100 24-hr samples
which gave the following values in disintegrations/min/24-hr sample: strontium-90,
0.6; and cerium-144 - praseodymium-144, 7.0. These values were estimated to be
well below the maximum permissible body burdens of these isotopes and, when biological ana physical half-lives were taken into consideration, agreed fairly well with
the original estimates of body burden two years earlier.