+ Nm ¢€ Reprinte. 401829 trom RADIATION-ASSOCIATED C BU QIFH ¥ THY ROID CARCINOMA Edited by Leslie J. De Groat, M.D.,at. al. © 1977 by Grune & Stratton, Inc. ( ) 753 ) SUMMARY OF THYROID FINDINGS AFTER EXPOSURE TO IN MARSHALLESE 22 Robert A. el YEARS RADIOACTIVE FALLOUT yer Conard, MD \ tf’ Medical Department, Brookhaven National Laboratory Upton, New York 11973 to result in beta burns, and internal absorption of radioactive materials through inhalation and ingestion). Another 18 Rongelap people, fishing on a nearby atoll (Ailingnae), where less fallout occurred, suffered lesser effects (receiving an external gamma dose of about 69 rads). There were 28 American servicemen on the island of Rongerik further to the east who received about the same exposure as did the Rongelap people on Ailingnae. Lastly, 157 Marshallese on Utirik Island, about 200 miles further east, received an estimated 14 rads of whole-body radiation. These islanders were - all evacuated to the Naval Base at Kwajalein,to the south, by two days after the accident, where they received medical examinations for the following two months. The Utirik people showed few if any effects and were returned to their home island. The American servicemen, who showed only slight effects, were later returned to duty. The Rongelap people showed the greatest effects and lived temporarily on an island to 241 mepositomy COLLECTION V4 &ECORDS MARSHALL Boxno [£D/CAL Forpern DEPT. ISLANDS PUBLICATIONS 2h= 1 753 ee ee The Medical Research Center Brookhaven National Laboratort Upton, L. J., New Xerk epee Inhabitants of several atolls in the Marshall Islands were accidently exposed to fallout radiation following a detonation of a high yield thermo-nuclear device during experiments at Bikini in the Pacific Proving Grounds in March 1954. An unpredicted shift in winds caused deposition of significant amounts of fallout on four inhabited atolls to the east of Bikini (see Fig. 1) and also on 23 Japanese fishermen aboard their fishing vessel, the Lucky Dragon. Sixty-four inhabitants of the island of Rongelap, 105 nautical miles away from the detonation, received the largest fallout exposure (an estimated dose of 175 rads of whole-body gamma radiation, contamination of the skin sufficient Te phen sas EM UTAaeare Ege ataETEE BACKGROUND