Cliff Sloan June 24, 1980 Page Two It is my belief already spent in exile by the Injebi people. over expedient e precedenc take mst caution and prudence that In the case of tions. considera political astrophic and often-cat we were too that prove should history if ent, the Mmjebi resettlem cautious and that we acted too prudently, I assure you that it would be a first in the Marshall Islands. I know that I personally would rather be in the position--say ten or twenty years hence-of having to explain why there was a six-month delay in the Injebi retum, rather than have to explein why one more previously "unexposed" group of Marshallese became an “exposed® group because of a hasty decision made by some “concerned” people who thought that things were “alright™ on mijebi. I think the following points will substantiate my present concern over the Injebi resettlement and my request for truly independent radiation experts in the Marshall Islands. We can only stand to gain from having an alternate point of view in relation to the radiological data and the recommendations therein, and I am convinced that the Injebi people can only benefit fron our acting with ceution and prudence: 1) The entire history of the “nuclear age" has been beset with the constant downward revision of what constitutes a “safe" level of radiation for humans. It was previously believed that a dose of 50 rem was “safe” for humans; the dose was then decreased by a factor of ten to 5 rem; and the current BEIR (Biological Effects of Ionizing Radiation) Committee of the National Academy of Sciences-- which was itself divided over the question of “safe" radiation levels, and whose recommendations are far from being universally accepted by well-respected radiation experta--recommends a dose of 0.5 rem in its 1979 updated Report. What this adds up to is a history of continuing uncertainty concerning the assessment of “safe levels of radiation for humans, and this ongoing debate is exemplified by Drs. Gofman and Rall in the enclosed symposium transcript of the recent American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) symposium I was asked to chair. 2) Dr. Robert A. Conard, who was the former head of the Brookhaven National Laboratory-Marshall Islands Program, expressed great surprise over the late-occurring thyroid effects in the exposed Marshallese populations. He claimed that these late effects were not anticipated before 1963, and it is fair to say that we still do not know what is going to havpen in the future in this population. Again, this is a