plpay te hb ee ere 4O LOO anfurt, van AS : Comdavon noe a AR a fee Consultant and former Head of the Marshall Island Medical Program at Brookhaven National Laboratory. The thyroid findings in the Marshallese people accidentally exposed to radioactive fallout following the detonation of a nuclear device at Bikini in 1954 are reported in detail in a 20-year review” and other reports.? A 25-year review is being written. A bref updating is presented here. The Marshallese populations with exposure data are listed in Table 1. The early effects of exposure on the Rongelap group were similar to those reported by Dr. Kumatoni for the fishermen on the Lucky Dragon. Transient nausea and vomiting occurred in that group and to a lesser eo. degree in the Ailingnae group but were not reported in the Utirik group. The major findings in the Rongelap group were depression of blood leukocytes and platelets to about one-half normal levels for 4 to 6 weeks, widespread “‘beta’’ burns of the skin with epilation, and significant wwe tnd internal absorption of radionuclides. These findings were less pronounced in the Ailingnae group and were not documented in the Utirik population. These observations are described in detail in earlier reports. Dunng the first decade there were few findings that could definitely be associated with radiation exposure; although there did appearto be a lag in complete recovery of leukocytes in the Rongelap group. During the second decade, however, there were serious developments in the exposed Rongelap group —a death from acute myelogenous leukemia and numerous thyroid abnormalities along with growth retardation in someof the children. Aa by ry for the Robert A. Conard Pha pegapbs SY tale Mate Ct -1977]. The 1954 Bikim Atol] Incident: An Update of the Findings in the Marshallese People Dation Danes Published !980 by Elsevier North Holland, Inc. K.F. Hiibner and S.A. Fry, eds. The Medical Basis for Radiation Accident Preparedness Development of Thyroid Abnormalities Radiochemical urine analyses shortly after the accident revealed mea- surable amounts of radionuclides, particularly isotopes of strontium, 5012679)