“KIN the vast majority of cises been generally observed ment of radianion cancer LESIONS Sued charges dave oricr te tue develep 07 The lack of any marked histological lamave o month~ after ex posure implies good repar: di Since ow en ergy radiation was chieHy responsable for the skin lesions, the prognos: appears better he vause none of 1,100 ndividuals exposed to law voltage X-ray for dermatoiogieal -onditiens developed epidermoid car tnoma oe to 28 vears after treatment (27) ra Furthermore epi theliomata rarely develop after a single dose of radiation to the «kin « fi Lastly the incidence of skin career i Negroes » one-sixth to one-ninth the ine dener 3 tsuensiars (2 in the United States Other factors make the outlook less favor able: ta) Deeper lesions of he feet und neck continued to show pigment aberrations and slight atrophy at | vear ind one severe ear lesion showed marked atrophy and scarring at this time. (b) Tous net snown wrether or not radiation of the epidermis pes xe can predis pose to malignant change. “ince the epidermis was heavily irradiated in ‘ese eases, Compared to the dermis, this becomes an unportant con sideration. i¢)} Since many children ana young adults were involved, the |.fe expectancy of a large number of the mdisiduals will exceed the long induction y eried for tie development of radiation cancer observed i radiologists id) Exposure to trepicai sunlignt, potentia ly carcinogenic in itself. may inerease the proba bility of neoplastic change #) The intluence of the sublethal whole-body exposure recess eq ANTH 39 FPILATION ‘ue cegrowth of hair, beginning about 9 veek> offer exposure in the Marshallese. was it iubout the same time as noted in the Japanese oermar (11), and slightly later than the time fo regrowth (6 to % weeks) noted in the Japa- bomb vasualties. In contrast to the vbigmentation changes noted in the reidiited skin of the Marshallese, there were ese narked 10 Pigment aberrations in the new hair, which sas observed to he of normal texture and abunfoie at (i months. Increased graying has been eported on tnimals (38-36) but has not been ‘1 human beings. Neither was there any tpowaranece of dark hair in aged individuals ato already had grav hair as has been reported eer ho wuman beings (32, 37.and 38). TPwe bomb casualties (30) In the Japa- und the Japanese ushermen (it) the new hair was also normal in olor texture, and abundance. “he nature of the bluish-brown transverse ‘muds of pigmentation that developed beneath * he nails is not known. Since it occurred in “le majority of the more heavily exposed Marhellese groups and in all 5 of the American Neyroes, but none of the white Americans, it tpoeared to be a response peculiar to darkKianed races. The phenomenon was apparently oroduced by gammaradiation with a dosLure as iow as 75 rsinee this was the estimated fave that the American Negroes received in the tbsence of significant contamination of the sutton (39) has reported a case of simiya pats uP Ungernal plementation which developed in regress, following 150 r of soft X-irradiation ote hands. hy these people on i iduct on of skin cancer 1 not known. The occurrence of epilat on 2 te 3 weeks after exposure corresponds rough y ta the time of appearance of epilation on ‘he Japanese exposec to gammaradiation ut Hiroshima and Nagasak: (29, 30). Since the grearer amount of epia tion occurred over a oenoc of a week ta 10 days there was apparent yoo phasu response de pendent on the growth ove wef the follicles «on active. or telogen and active coe ar ager follicles» as has been reported 3.8 Summary " soW NG THE DETONATION of a thermonuclear lee signiheant amounts of visible radioactive mitteria were deposited on inhabited atolls pro- vuottus skin Jesions, whole-body radiation incury and some internal deposition of radionu- Lrehes The skin lesions in the more heavily or tuninated groups were characterized by honnuatad barning of the skin for 24-48 hours. ‘;oimtton and sken lesions were observed, be-