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leukemia was diagnosed. He died several
months later. His death and its repercussions
are discussed in Chapter VI.
The medicalconsultants and the Committee
observers seemed pleased with the examinations. Ezaki remarked that ”...considering the
location and Jogistics problems, the people of
Rongelap receive medical treatment and examinations that would equal that provided by any
big city hospitals..." (B-63). The Joint
Committee published a report on the recommen-
dations of the survey (B-18), In February 1974,
English as an addendum to our 20-yearreport.)
(A-14). In addition, Jan Naidu of the Safety and
Environmental Protection Division of
Brookhaven National Laboratory spent four
weeks on Rongelap and two weeks on Utirik
island meeting the people and presenting informalillustrated talks, translated into
Marshallese, about radiation effects and the
Brookhaven program. Naidu feels that he
.
helped the people better understandthis difficult subject which, in the United States, is
poorly understood by the general public.
When Senator Borja was with us for the 1973
examinations, he impressed on the people the
importance of the medical examinations. This,
in conjunction with our renewed educational
efforts. did much to improve the people's understanding of the examinations. The AEC wrote to
Senator Borja expressing generai support for
many of the recommendations that had been
made by his Committee (B-66).
In spite of these favorable developments,
a second report was published by the
Committee on the actions taken regarding their
recommendations (B-64). Most recommendations had already been instituted by the medical team before the 1972 survey. Someof these
recommendations and the actions taken were as
follows: continued presence of a resident physician in the islands (already planned); use of a
special ship for medical purposes (already
arranged); additional examining facilities at
Majuro and Ebeye (new medicai trailers were
already in place); village meetings with the people to explain the resuits of the last examinations and answer questions (already done);
.
statement in Marshallese to the people regarding findings (to be done). The Committee report
ical program was out of rough waters.
In 1975,
was Magistrate of
Rongelap. He was the brotherof
who had been Magistrate at the time of the fallout. He had spentvery little time on Rongelap
RongelapandUtirikgeopls:(PLS-82,5sea, ot
he ontHEisfandatrpc
fournets éxami-
alsoproposed further‘compensetidefor‘she.
Chapter 5land a Senate Joint Resclanient
expreasing-...che. sorrowand.yee of the
Congressof Micronesia,toche
friends of
for his untime and
unwarranted, irreplaceable loss...” An ‘article by
Stewart Alsop about
death, was
included in the report (B-65).
In March 1973, Borja and several members of
the Joint Committee including Ataji Balos
accompanied our medical team to Rongelap and
Utirik for the annual examinations. They presented a questionnaire to the people on radiation
effects and treatment. From their answers, it
was apparentthat our explanations about radiation and treatment had largely failed. The
Consultants for the Congressional Committee
also had recommended that communication
between the medical team and the people
should be improved. To remedythis situation,
the following year we collected questions from
the people about their radiation exposure and
our treatment. Then, we published an illustrated question and answer bookiet in
Marshallese. (This booklet is duplicated in
more disturbing events followed before our med-
and’FSNOLone ofthe:
flor was
nations,
but’waatravéling inJjapan, Uponhis
return, hesubspittedt: ‘letterté miewhichwas
publishediin the jocalnewsp
ews
(B-67).Afew excerp{a fear.
er. Micronitar
Mattesakesasfol-
lows: “...Sinceleaving Rongeiap, Thave learned
a great deal. -you have neverreally cared about
us as peopie--only as a group of guineapigs for
your government's research efforts...we want
medical care from doctors who care about
us...we no longer want you to cometo
Rongelap..." This letter was very discouraging
to me, but I thoughtthat it did not reflect the
true feelings of the Rongelap people. Chips
Barry, formerly an attorney with the
Micronesia Legal Services at Majuro, published
an open letter to Nelson Anjain criticizing his
attitude and urging the people to continue being
examined by the Brookhaven medical team
(B-68). Ataji Balos told me not to worry about
the letter, that the matter would be taken care
of. It was gratifying that he now accepted the
merits of our examinations: I believe that
Congressman Balos has always sincerely had
the welfare of the people at heart.
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