MLG/1s
T/PV.1486
59-60
(‘ir, Alcalay)
As you know, Utirik Atoll was one of the inhabited atolls which received
radio-active fall-out from the 1 March 1954 detonation of "Bravo", the second
hydrogen test, at Bikini Island.
Following the incident, the inhabitants
of Rongelap and Utirik were evacuated from their home islands and were
taken to Kwajalein Atoll, a United States missile testing site.
There the
irradiated Marshallese experienced the primary symptoms of radiation sickness:
itching, and burning of the skin, eyes and mouth; nausea, vomiting and
diarrhoea,
After two weeks, the Ifarshallese manifested the secondary
effects of radiation sickness:
the appearance of "beta" skin burns,
epilation - the hair of the head falling out; and decreased blood cell counts.
After the third month on Kwajalein, the people from Utirik were returned
to their
home atoll, and a team of scientists from Brookhaven National
Laboratory initiated a medical programme to monitor the effects of the
radiation in the exposed Marshallese population.
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