RMI Nuclear Justice Documents

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It is’ also the sense of the Committee that because of the uniqueness of
the experiences of the affected Marshallése,

there has been a tendency, perhaps

More unconscious than conscious, but nevertheless a tendency to let scientific
curiosity at times override immediate action.

To be fair,the Committee would

also like to note that such tests and studies have not always included the
Rongelapese.

In the past examinations,

American servicemen

and members of

the teams themselves have had their blood and urine tested for comparison
purposes,

Even

himself has allowed himself to be used as a "guinea

pig" as disclosed by this excerpt from the eleven~ and twelve-year report

(p.

159):

"Since facilities for a metabolic balance study were not available on
Rongelap Island, one of us (R.A.C.) brought several native food items

(pandanus fruit and coconut meat and milk) back to Brookhaven and consumed

them under controlled conditions,

Urinary and fecal specimens were

collected and whole body counting measurements were made over a period

of 180 days.
The intake of strontium-90 over a seven-day period was
twenty times higher than normal and that of cesium-137, sixty times higher
than normal."
In conclusion,

the Committee offers the suggestion that by the very nature

of their experience and conditions and by the very nature of the unique set of
circumstances surrounding the daily lives of the two groups,

the people of

Rongelap and Utirik are “guinea pigs" in the sense that no other group of people
in the world have been exposed to the same amounts and differing kinds of
radioactivity,

and no other group of people in the world have been exposed to

the same amounts and differing kinds of radioactivity,

and no other group in

the world has been so carefully studied for the results of such effects.

Again,

whether these people are being used as guinea pigs in an extended study of
the effects of fallout upon human beings and their treatment is only of secondary
importance;

or whether they are,

by virtue of their experience a group of

people who are being examined and studied for the best of humanitarian aims is a
decision the Committee will again leave up to the reader.

lol 4 1b0

152

In closing,

the

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