Weisgall ingested the largest amounts of radiation of any known population. and they concluded that it was necessary to move the people off the island as soon as possible. History sadly repeated itself in August 1978, as U.S. ships once again entered Bikini Jagoon, and the 139 people on the island packed up their possessions and left. No one has been allowed to live there since then. Living Laboratory The experiences of the people of Bikint since 1946 prove Murphy's Law. Anything thar could go wrong did. But why’? Why did ehe AEC ad hoc committee conclude in 1968 that Bikini was safe? Whar led the AEC in 1971 to scate that the water was safe? Why did the Bikini resettlement begin before all the facts were known? There is a strong feeling among Bikinians that they were moved back to Bikini as human guinea pigs in order toenable U.S. scientists ro measure the long-term effects of low- level radiation. They point. for example. to a 1976 study prepared for DOE that concluded: Bikini Atoll may be the only global source of data on humans where intake via ingestion is thoughr to contribure the major fraction of plutonium body burden. . . It is possibly the best available source of data for evaluating the transfer of plutonium across the gut wall after being incorporated into biological systems. way of accurately predicting the levels of in- ternal doses of radiation. short of moving people to the island and studying them over the years. That is exactly what they did, and in this sense the Bikinians’ suspicionsare well founded. On seeing thesite of the Bravo shot . . . the Bikinians declared that their islands had lost their bones. An equally troublesome factorin the AEC's decision-making process was what seems to have been sheer negligence. To estimate tn— ternal doses of radiation. the AEC needed to know something about the diet of people who would be living on Bikini. Lacking detailed information, the AEC referred to a 1957 report by an AEC researcher on the diet of other people living in the Marshall Islands. This study predicted thac the Bikinians’ entire daily intake of coconut meat and milk, the only Iiquid in their diet. would be nine grams, or several teaspoonsful. This figure was obviously wrong. The author of the report has suggested that the nine-gram figure in the AEC study may have been a typographical error. In fact, recent re- ports revealed that the correct figure is closer to 600 or 700 grams. Whatever the reasons for the error, it rendered the AEC’s internal dose assessment calculations ludicrous. Carter administration officials and the Congress concede that America neglected the Bikinians in the past. but they have promised to DOE vigorously denies the charge that it used Bikini as a living laboratory, but serious questions are raised by the AEC’s decision in 1968 to move people back to Bikini Island. Ignorance was a major factor in the AEC's decision. Scientists in 1968 could make reasonably accurate estimates of the long-term risks associated with external radiation on Bikini, but external doses constituted only 10 to 15 per cent of the islanders’ total exposure. The bulk came from internal doses, the results of drinking contaminated well water and ingesting food grown in Bikini’s radioactive soil. Scientists in 1968 had no gling. Toa limited extent. their promise has been kept. Congress. under the strong leadership of Representatives Phillip Burton (D.California) and Sidney R. Yates (D.-[linois), has passed legislation providing for periodic radiological surveys of Bikini Atoll, updated radiation dose assessments, and a comprehensive health-care program for the people of Bikini. It has also appropriated $6 million for a trust fund for the Bikinians, as well as $1.4 million for direct distribution to 90. 91. rectify three decades of mistakes and bun-