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BROOKHAVEN NATIONAL LABORATOR
ASSOCIATED UNIVERSITIES, INC.
Upton, Long Island, New York 11973
(516) 282. 7538
FITS 6667
Medical Department
December 28, 1981
Julian Van Lancker, M.D.
Professor of Pathology
Chairman, Pathology Department
School of Medicine
University of California
.
.
Los Angeles, California 90024
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BOX No.
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Dear Dr. Van Lancker,
You know of the participation of Dr. Donald E, Paglia of your
department in the continuing medical studies on the Marshallese that
were exposed to fallout March 1, 1954, The primary lesion of major
importance to mankind has been the development of a wide spectrum of
thyroid tumors, Over the years many different distinguish thyroid
pathologists have served as the pathology diagnosticians, Unfortunately,
no one of the pathologists or any collective group had ever studied all
of the material. It became obvious three years ago that there were some
discrepancies in diagnosis that were bothersome from the scientific
standpoint and truly troublesome from the standpoint of the litigation
that is now being initiated, It was fortunate that Dr. Paglia had been
a long term participant in the Marshallese studies,
Dr. Paglia analyzed
the situation and made a reasonable proposal for convening a board of
pathologists to review together all of the material.
This was initially
vehemently opposed by some of the previous pathological consultants as
being absolutely unnecessary.
I was convinced by the logic of Dr. Paglia*s arguments and
invited all of the participants in the past, such as, Drs. Ackerman,
Meissner, Reed, Woolner and Vickery. In addition, Brown Dobyns the
thyroid surgeon was also invited, Dr. Paglia and Dr. Dobyns organized
the slides and blocks and the entire group studied the material for two
days and much to my surprise came into near total agreement on the
diagnoses of the tumors resolving the scientific issues and providing a
much sounder base for defense at the time of litigation. I and all of
the officials in the Department of Energy who were concerned with the
Marshallese consider this a major triumph involving classical histopathology. It would not have happened spontaneously and it was only
because of the reasonable approach of Dr. Paglia that it was possible to
_get the participants together and in concert bring them into near 100%
agreement.
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