Japanese fishermen exposed to BRAVO fallout were found to have had

about 7 times as much external as thyroid exposure.’

They had lived

with the external exposure for two weeks during their return to their

home port, but probably avoided all but ingestion exposure to iodine.

At the Sedan cratering explosion, one man remained in the open without
facemask protection during cloud passage. His resultant thyroid
exposuré wasslightly more than his external gamma exposure.
He thus
had exposure to inhaled iodine, but avoided subsequent external
exposure; his experience is evidence that the inhalation danger is real
during cloud passage.

Also on Sedan there were three air samplers

in

the fallout field that were changed often enough to distinguish cloud-

passage iodine from later volatized iodine; the results showed that
there wgs no more than 10 percent as much volatilized as cloud-passage

iodine.

This observation does not answer the concern about volatiliza-

tion because it was made in dry, not wet, circumstances.

Dr. Conard, the medical doctor in charge of the study of the effects
of the BRAVO fallout on the Rongelap people, points out that data are

lacking as to the importance of the inhalation process at Rongelap.

His

opinion is that, under those particular circumstances, ingestion and not

inhalation probably was the process that produced most of their thyroid.

dose.10,11 Thus the Marshallese evidence neither establishes or denies

an inhalation threat.

The opinion of the Subcommittee is that inhalation is far less if

a threat than ingestion, and does not justify countermeasures such as*

filters in the ventilating systems of shelters.

17

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