iné€é aSSumption oO1 NO Ge@aciis Lt Ule UT LRLUWaLDov eo ulin Wao mauc for simplicity and the lack of good death rate data. T also took a brief look at the age characteristics of the Marshallese from Table IV-3 and the U.S. population in 1970. This comparison is given in the attached curve. As you can see the slopes are similar above age 35 but the magnitudes are distorted by the high birth rate in the Marshall Islands. However, in terms of the relative risk the similar slopes mean to me that if the two natural cancer rates are similar, the relative risk for people above 35 in both populations would be similar because most of the cancer occurs at ages about 40 and above. However, the magnitude of the relative risk in the U.S. used for the Marshallese will be high by a factor of somewhere around 2~3 because of the distortion caused by the very high proportion of young people who have a relatively low natural cancer incidence, Sincerely yours, tD far? fee is. W. JWH:dl Enc. a/s xe: B. Wachholz, DOE/HQ, Washington, D.C., w/enc. Healy