SESSION II

97

the Marshallese people but the radiation dose is probably better
known in their case than it is in the case of the Japanese. Documentation during the acute period was fairly complete for the
Marshallese and not so complete for the Japanese. (The Marshallese findings are reviewed in References 8 and 9, the Japanese
Hiroshima and Nagasaki data in numerous publications by the Atomic
Bomb Casualty Commission. )}
The Marshallese population under study is fairly stable.* We go
back from year to year and find little attrition. We have an excellent comparison population composed of relatives of the Rongelap
people who have moved back to live on the island of Rongelap. They
match reasonably well for age and sex.
_ The Japanese fishermen studies were made difficult by the complexity of the dosimetry, the fact that on board the ship they lived
part time below decks, where they were more protected, and part
time above, etc. Perhaps later on Merril Eisenbud might say more
about the dosimetry in that group. (The data on the Japanese fishermen are reviewed in References 6 and 10.) In addition, it was two
weeks before they arrived in port where the situation could be evaluated. Another complicating factor was that during the course of
treatment they were given multiple blood transfusions and many of
them developed jaundice, liver disease, and one even died, probably
as a result of repeated blood transfusions.
Figure 2 is a photograph of Rongelap island taken on March t, 1954;
a typical South Sea Island village with loose palm construction.
Figure 3 is a rough sketch to show the types of radiation that people
were exposed to. The wavy lines represent gamma radiation, that is
whole-body penetrating type of radiation. The stippled area represents beta radiation which was largely responsible for the skin lesions
that developed and also the internal deposition of the fallout material.
The spectrum of the gamma radiation from the fallout was fairly
complex. There are quite a few different energy peaks as cortrasted
to ordinary laboratory studies in animals. The calculations of the
* The medical studies of the Marshallese are sponsored by the U.S.
Atomic Energy Commission and are carried out under the direction
of Brookhaven National Laboratory in conjunction with the Trust
Territory of the Pacific Islands (Department of Interior).

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