Weisgai:
island away from the lagoon. A routine radi-
ological survey of Bikini Island conducted in
June 1975 yielded ominous results. It revealed that the island's interior was too radioactive for housing and that some wells there
were contaminated with radioactive plutonium. Furthermore, it showed that while coconuts were safe, breadfruit and pandanus.
two staples of the Bikinian diet, contained
well water on Bikini Island exceeded accept-
able U.S. standards. Coconuts, formerly
thoughtsafe, turned out tocontain high levels
of radiation, and the islanders were told rhat
they could eat only one a day. Medical examinations revealed that the people living on
Bikini had absorbed doses of cancer-causing
radioactive elements—such as strontium. plutonium, and cesium—in excess of those con-
unacceptably high levels of radiation. The
sidered safe by U.S. experts.
settlement program proceeded as planned, the
that the Bikinians’ alarmingly high levels of
survey report concluded that if the Bikini repeople would receive external gamma radia-
tion in excess of federally prescribed Itmits.
The Bikinians, frustrated and confused by
the contradictory information they were re-
ceiving, brought suit in federal court in October 1975 to force the United States to stop
the resettlement program until it conducted
the much-discussed comprehensive radiological survey of the atoll. In the complaint the
In early 1978 U.S. sctentists concluded
internal radiation were caused by their consumption of locally grown foods planted as
parc of the Bikini rehabilitation project: U.S.
officials immediately informed the 139 people
living on Bikini Island that they could no
longer eat locally grown food but were tosubsist solely on food and water brought in from
the outside.
Bikinians openly conceded their ignorance as
The outside food support system. which
had been initiated in the mid-1970s ro pro-
turns out, was shared by the U.S. govern-
kini, was a complete failure. Although the
to the atoll’s safety, ignorance which, it now
ment. The Bikinians stated: ‘For us to make
an intelligent decision to resettle Bikini Acoll,
we must be able to weigh our desire to return
against the radiological risks of returning. We
have not been provided with that informa-
tion... .”"
Settlement discussions quickly followed
the filing of the lawsuit, and the United Srates
readily agreed to conduct the survey. Nevertheless. governmental infighting continued
over which agency would pay for the survey.
and how much it would cost. The Defense
Department, asked in 1976 to estimate the
cost of a radiological survey of the entire
northern Marshall! Islands, put the figure at
$2.58 million. The House Interior Appropriations Subcommittee promptly budgeted
$2.6 million for the survey in 1977, but Defense took no action, saying it needed more
money.
This squabble over paying for the survey
lasted three years. During this time thc fears
of the Bikinians were borne out: tests in 1977
showed that the level of strontium 90 in the
88.
vide supplements to local food grown on Bi-
trust territory government scheduled monthly
trips to take food to Bikini Island, it did not
have enough ships to provide regular service.
Ships did not call on Bikini for two or three
monthsat a time, so the people on theisland,
having exhausted their supply of imported
food, had no choice but to eat the contaminated food they grew themselves. By March
1978 Interior concluded that Bikini Island
would have to be declared off limits for longterm habitation for at least 50 years. and it
began to plan moving the people living on
Bikini Island five miles south to Eneu.
:
One month later a medical team arrived on
Bikini to test the islanders again. Ironically.
the Bikinians. whostill did not understand
the risks to which they were being exposed,
offered coconuts—the most radioactive crop
on the island—to the arriving scientists as a
sign of friendship. Examinations showed
what was described as an “‘incredible’’ oneyear, 75 per cent increase in body burdens of
radioactive cesium 137. U.S. scientists stated
that the people living on Bikini may have
89.