wa the om ee meee AIRLIT: ii eriyA “ee a 14 finger has been noted previouslyin children in the unexposed group, but not in children of exposed parents. Miscarriages andStillbirths During the past year two questionable miscarriages occurred in the exposed women, and two miscarriages and one other questionable one occurred in the unexposed women. Thus, during the past two yearsthe incidence of miscarriage appears to be no greater in the exposed than in the unexposed women, and the previously reported suggestive increase in incidence in the exposed women is no longer apparent. Unfortunately it was not possible to have a physician examine the products of miscarriage. Ilinesses There were few majorillnesses reported in the Rongelap population during the past year. Two unexposed people were hospitalized for surgical procedures: No. 867, as mentioned above, had her Fallopian tubes tied following severe post-partum hemorrhage, and No. 855 had a hemorrhoidectomy; recovery in both cases was uneventful. No epidemics of disease occurred in the population, and the dispensary record of the health aide showed the usual numberof cases of upper respiratory infections including a notable numberof cases of acute bronchitis. Gastroenteritis was frequent as noted in the past. A number of cases of otitis media and skin infections including the prevalent fungus and impetigenous lesions were treated, and also a small number of minor wounds and injuries. In spite of the complaint at the village meeting of sickness from eating fish, the health aide re- ported no cases of fish poisoning during the past year. He did report that several membersof a few families had developed a sickness 8 to 24 hours after eating arrowroot flour (as mentioned at the village meeting). The affected people developed inflammation and burning of the mucous membranes of the mouth which persisted for about a week. Several also had diarrhea of one-dayduration shortly after eating the flour. These illness occurred at two separate times, in June and September 1960. Since most families were not sick from eating the arrowroot flour, it was concluded that in the families in which sickness developed the cr flour had not been properly prepared. It is known that improper preparation mayresult in the type of sickness described. During the interviewthe health aide admitted that some of the people had at tumes eaten coconut crabsin spite of the fact that they had been re- quested not to. Since the individuals involved were not named, it was not possible to attempt to correlate Sr“ urinary levels with crab ingestion. ADULT EXAMINATIONS Table 3 shows the various abnormalities noted in the exposed and unexposed adult population examined. In Appendix 6 the variousclinical findings are enumerated for each individual. Certain abnormalities such as moderate to severe arteriosclerosis and cataracts showed a higher percentage incidence in the exposed group; however, the increases in both cases werelikely related to the larger percentage of older people in the exposed group. In the exposed group 20% of the adults were >>65 years of age compared with 7% of the unexposed adults. Taking this into consideration, it does not appear that the abnormalities in the two groupsare very different, and no evidence of any increased incidence of degenerative diseases or other diseases is apparent in the exposed group. Several of the older people in the exposed group (No. 57, F, age 107; No. 46, M, age 86; No. 55, M, age 82; No. 56, F, age 78; and No. 28, F, age 75) showed marked infirmities of old age with such findings as arteriosclerotic heart disease, kyphoscoloisis, osteoarthritis, and cataracts with blindness and had to beassisted to the examina- tion room, Only two unexposed people were in this age bracket (No. 862, M, age 88 and No. 946, M, age 85). They showed similar infirmities, but could walk alone. Cancer Detection Survey Examinations as thorough as possible under field conditions were carried out for the detection of malignancy. All tumors including presumably benign tumors were recorded. No malignant lesions were detected in either the exposed or unexposed groups. Pelvic examinations were carried out on the sexually mature females (except when pregnant). Cervical erosions, lacerations, and prolapse were noted with great frequency. Papanicolaou’s staining was done on vaginal and cervical smears.