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. * ~ o. toa tMOD a eee