PRIVACY ACT MATERIAL REMOVE
D
Gilt Jonnoon. a free fance writer who has traveled extensively
througnout the Pacific, edits the .Wicronesia Buiietin
sublisned in Honoiulu, Hawait 96826.
habitation. the levels of activity are
higher than those found in other inhabited locations tn the worid. The
tually going to Rongelap and Utink.
the team examined exposed people
in the distmet center of Majoro. The
nabitation of these people on the Is- Japanese report stated:
land will afford most valuaole
ecological radiation data on human
_
eo
>eings.
"The people of Rongelap who were
not exposed to fallout. received a
considerable amount ofradioactive
Even at the outset of its medical nuclides from the environment.
treatment program, the a&c seemed Consequently, rhe “unexposed
willing to expemment with the ex- group actually became an ‘exposed’
sosed Marshallese islanders.
group... it Was a great mistake to
Up to '988 the incidence ofstill- permit the people of Rongelap to re-
births and miscarmmases in the excosed Roncelap women was more
than twice the rate of unexposed
Marshailese women.
In {961. a Brookhaven National
Laboratory report (prepared for the
sEC) showed that after the exposed
Rongelap people returned to their 1sand in !957 their body ourden of
radioactivity rapidly increased. In
‘961 their bodylevels uf radioactive
cesium had risen 60-foid. zinc rose
*-fold and strontium-90 rose 6-fold.
In 1964. the first thyroid tumors
tur to their island in Julv 1957 with-
out sutficient work having been done
to remove radioactive pollution from
the island.”
In 1972,
who had
been only a year old at the time of his
exposure in 1954. died of myeloxenous jeukemia at the National Cancer Institute in Berchesda. Marviand.
The Atomic Energy Commission
has consistently obscured tnformation about the irradiation of the
people and their high incidence of
thvroid disease and cancer. In 1975
and cancers appeared. Since that
. Rongelap’s magistime. more than 90 percent of the trate. wrote to Dr. Robert Conard of
Rongelap children who were under Brookhaven:
i. Years old in 1954 have develoned
Energy Commission treated 1]
ported cases of thvroid tumors. .
them mabgnant. out of a popula’
of only (87.
But suddenly in 1977 the ca:
and thyroid disease rate among
Utirikese rose so sharply tha:
equalled that of the much mheavily exposed Rongelap por
tion. This unexpected increase
torced goverment scientists to
vise theones on which radiation «
raie Will lead to adverse humar
fects.
“Thyroid nodules have been
creasing inthe Utink people and
was quite unpredicted and we .
some of the best experts in
United States.” said Dr. Coné
who nas headed the Atomic Ene ©
Commission and now ERDA (Enc:
Research and Development .
ministration) medical program in
Marshalls since 1984.
“The theory was put forth ¢:
Utink received lowradiation so 4.
tailed follow-up was not necessar:.
said Dr. Konrad Kotrady. a for:-
thyroid tumors. Forty percent of all ‘*For me and the people on
the exposed Marshallese have de- Rongelap., it is life which matters
.eloped thyroid problems, as com- most. For vou it is facts and figures.
pared to an average of 3 or 4+ percent We want our life and our health. In
among Americans.
all the vears vou ve come to our Is-
Some people who returned to land vou ve never once treated us as
Rongelap in 1957 had been away people. You've never sat down
among us and really helped us honestly with our problems. You have
trom the island when the bomb
exploded and therefore had not been
exposed to radiation.
Brookhaven's !960 medical survey showed little difference in
radioactivity levels among exposed
and unexposed people living on
Rongelap. However. as late as 1969,
told the people that the ‘worstIs
over, then
__. died. 1am
very worriedthat we will suffer
again and again.”
The Utirik people were suffering
as well. Because their exposure was
viously unexposed Rongelap people considered ‘small. tests on genetic
was /0 times that of Marshalleseliv- and second generation effects were
Ing on 2 noncontaminated island.
not conducted on them. The Atomic
In i371, Marshall Isiands leaders Energy Commission had aiways told
invited a Japanese medical ream to the Utink peopie that the 14 rads of
the body radioactivitv levels of pre-
perform an independent survey of
radiation they had experienced was
the Rongelap and Utirik people. too insignificant to be harmful.
Barred by the United States from ac- Nevertheless. in 23 years the Atomic
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