Becauseliving conditions deteriorated further the United States instituted small trust funds. For the Bikinians, the trust fund yielded semi-annual interest payments of approximately $15 per person. jier showed a marked increase in the were S to 6 times higher than ex- suffered radiation exposure until amount of radioactive nuclides in the pected. people s bodies. These tests show that tne Bikinians were ingesting Throughout the rehabilitation of higher than acceptable concentra- Bikini, the Energy Research and they returned to their radioactive tsland atter 25 years. Now the Biki- from the water und from food grown in the island's contaminated soil. many ot whom have now retumed to their home atoll to work with thousands of U.S. army soldiers in trons of cancer-causing radiation The U.S. government then began importing all food (except localfish. which was declared safe) and dnnk to Bikini. This food program has compounded the Bikint dilemma: While the Bikinians have been told that the island ts radioactive and po- tentiaily dangerous. the prospect of tree food and housing and a chance to move trom Kili—called the “prison bv residents—has encouraged peuple to return. In eurtvy 1978. the Energy Research ind Development Association considered moving the people to another island in Bikini Atoll— Eneu—.and was growing fruits and Vegetadles in an experimental garden to test radioactivity levels there. Results trom these experiments, however, werent expected for about a year. According to a careful report in the Los Angeles Times. by February 1978 it was official governmentpol- icy: Bikini was unfit for people to live on. Nevertheless. in Apnl, Trust Territery officials, testifying at a congressional hearing on funding for re-estaodlishing the Bikinians on Eneu Island, insisted that the people could remain on Bikiniwithour hurm untul the expenments on Eneu were completed in January !979—provided that they didn't eat any coconuts, and that the coming medi- cal tests showed. as was expected, no large increases in internal radiauon levels. In the April 1978 medical examina- tions. however. the Bikinians’ internal radiation levels ranged up to Development Association and the Department of Energy had conducted countless radiological sur- vevs of the island—-many of which may be the only global source of data on humans where intake via inges- tion is thought to contribute the major traction of plutonium body burden. ~ A 1976 Lawrence Livermore Lab- agencies treatment of the Marshallese, their situation 1s not apt to change. From the nuclear bomb tests at Bikini and Enewetak to the medical treatmentof the irradiated islanders. oratory scientist stated that Bikini “is possibly the best avatiable source of data for evaluating the the 30 years of American trusteeship has brought the Marshallese anv- wall after being incorporated into biological svstems. Government scientists vehe- Conard. Robert A.. M.D., et al. A Tuenre Year Review ot Medical Findings in a Murshallese Population Accidentally Exposed Marshallese tor experimentation. A partment of Commerce. 1975: available from Nauonal Technical Information Ser- transter of piutonium across the gut mently deny they have used the DOE official explained. “It was done by technical tvpes anxious to know about the transfer of radioactive elements. Intenor Department officials announced in Mav 1978 that the atoll thing but the conditions promised in the U.N. trust agreement.7c to Radivactive Fullout, Brookhaven National Laboratory. Washington. D.C.: De- vice. Coneress of Micronesia Special Joint Cummittee Concerning Ronyelap and tirtk: 1973 Report. Kolonia, Ponape 9694i: The Congress. Detroit Free Press. Sept. 2. 1978. would be evacuated within 90 days. Gensuikin (Japan) Medicul Survey Team. Re- land. In Jate August. Interior repre- bv the Bikini Avdrogen Bomb Test to the Peopte of the Marshall Islands. rev. ed.: and the people returned to Kili Is- porton the Investigation of Damage Done sentalives went to Bikini to super- Tokvo. Japan: Gensuikin, 4th fl.. Akimoto Bldg.. 2-19 Tsukasa-Che. Kanda. vise the evacuation, in many ways reminiscent of the 1946 removal. “There are some things we didn't feel good about.” said Taro Lokebal. who serves as liaison be- tween the Bikini Council and the United States. ““The (U.S.) High Commissioner made the people rush.... Some things were left behind—pigs. chickens, lumber. We had to have our ceremony on the ship. [t was supposed to be on the Though the Bikinians. like the Enewetakese. suffered the devastat- showed that radioactivity levels even near starvation, they had never Eneu Island holds for the Enewetak people— the massive nuclear debmis cleanup. Until the scientific community and A recent study for the Department of independent organizations begin cnitEnergy concluded that **Bikim Atoll ically to monitor U.S. government suggest the Bikinians were unwitting subjects tor scientific radiation tests. 0.980. or nearly merce the U.S. maximum safetv standard of 0.5 rems. At the same time. the preliminary results from the experi- mental garden at nians are an exposed population. too. And who knows whatthe future shore but Wwe had no time.” ing physical and psvchological ef- fects of relocation and, at times. Chiyoda-ku. Tokyo. 1973. Honolulu Advertiser. Oct. 10. 1978: June 16. 20. 21. and 22, 1977; March 19, 1978. July 30, 1978. International Herald Tribune. April 19, 1978. Kiste. Robert C. The Bikinians: A Study in Forced Migration. Mento Park, Ca.: Cum- mings Publishing Co., 1974. Lawrence Livermore Laboratory. Dose As- sessment at Bikint Atoll. UCRL-51879 PLS. Washington. D.C.: Department of Commerce. June. 8. 1977: available from National Technical [nformation Service. Los Angeles Times. June il, 1977. McHenry. Donaid F. Micronesia. Trust Be- traved. Washington, D.C.: Camegie Endowment for Internation:i Peace. i978, Micronesian Independent. Sept. 12. !975. New York Times. March 23, 1978. Washington Post. March 23 and 27. 1978: Apri 3, 1978, February 1979 The Bulletin 15