. ve we OT 3. for the past ten years and though improvement in children's growth has resulted and the medication is necessary to maintain normal thyroid state in the surgical cases, it new tumors from developing. is questionable if the treatment is preventing The observed incidence of thyroid tumors in the exposed Marshallese is considerably higher than might be expected from their exposure to 131, alone. Calculated on a per rad basis, the observations are more consistent with risks after x-irradiation. The explanation is thought to be that many of the shorter lived isotopes of radioiodine present in the fallout may have a higher biological effect than 131, Leukemia:- In 1972, a Rongelap man developed acute leukemia -quite likely due to radiation exposure.: He had been exposed at one year.of=~ age. In spite of the best possible treatment, at the Hospital of the National Cancer Institute, he died. This unfortunate death, together with the development of thyroid abnormalities, have been the cause of some anxiety among the_ Rongelap people. Continued Monitoring:- Our medical team is conducting annual assess- ment of radiological hazards to personnel returning to live on these atolls. This is being accomplished by radiochemical analysis of urine, diet, water and by whole-body gamma spectroscopy. The results of personnel monitoring at Bikini over the past four years have been encouraging with body burdens of people living on Bikini considerably below those of the Rongelap people. A letter to this effect was recently sent to the District Administrator of the Marshalls for reassurance of the returning Bikini people. One of our most pressing problems for personnel monitoring both on Bikini and Eniwetak is the é@ssessment of the plutonium hazard. Our personnel monitoring is co- ordinated with the monitoring of the environment which is done by a Brookhaven DOE ARCHIVES ¢