I220 NATIONAL INSTITUTES OF HEALTH CLINICAL STAFF Annals of Internal Medicine Rongelap with the exposed people. This group makes up our comparison population and is a rather good onesince [1] most of the people are blood relatives of the exposed people; [2] they match reasonably well for age and sex; and [3] they live under the same environmental conditions. Now, briefly, what acute effects were noted? In about 2 weeks the deposit of fallout material on the skin resulted in the development of radiation burns that first appeared as pigmented areas. About 90% of the people developed these so-called “beta burns.” These pigmented areas usu- ally desquamated in a few days leaving raw depigmented areas, sometimes ulcerations. Figure 4 shows extensive lesions in a young boy. Fortunately, most of these burns wer fairly superficial and healed and repigt mented within several weeks without any special treatment. Epilation was noted ir about 90% of the children and 40% of the adults. This was spotty in nature. In Figure 5 we see epilation in the temple area of a young girl. The hair regrew in all of these people, starting at about 3 months, and by the end of 6 months it had com- Ficure 4. Numerous superficial “beta burns” in a young boy who had little clothing on at time of exposure. Wecarry out annual medical surveys on these people. The surveys are sponsored by the Atomic Energy Commission and Brookhaven National Laboratory and are carried out in conjunction with the Medical Department of the Trust Territory of the Pacific Islands. Numerous publications have described the results of these annual surveys (1-10). In 1957 the Island of Rongelap was monitored and was pronouncedsafe for habitation, and the people were” moved back. Figure 3 shows Rongelap Island today with new construction that is far superior to what they had previously. Over 200 Rongelap people who were not on theisland at the time of the accident moved back to Ficure 5. Epilation in the temporal area of the scalp of a young girl.