J DVINGTON & BURLING Mr. Wallace O. April 21, Page Two 1980 Green . tion As you will recall,on May 16, 1979 a dele sent by the Government of the Marshall Islands parti ipated in a meeting you chaired with representatives of th Departnse ment of Energy, Interior, Defense, State and the De Nuclear Agency. On that occasion the Government of he Marshall Islands requested assistance from the asse agencies in determining the scope of the potentially related medical problems on the northern atolls pre considered uncontaminated which, unlike Bikini, Enew Rongelap, and Utirik, had not heretofore been the su focused attention by the United States. At that mee led radiation ously pPtak, bject of Fing, the Government of the Marshall Islands presented the results of its own rough, preliminary survey of the people o F one of these northern atolls, Likiep, which identified out population of approximately 600 people, 22 reported dectomies, 18 other chronic throat disorders, 2 case severe birth malformations, one case of intestinal c and 2 cases of chronic nervousness. In light of the profoundly disturbing preliminary findings, the Gove Df a chyroi5 of Ancer be crnment of the Marshall Islands asked the Department of Ener by and the Department of the Interior to undertake the nece BSary medical examinations, building on the expertise they had gained in their studies of Bikini, Enewetak, Rongela b and Utirik, to determine the scope of the problems which may have been caused by long term exposure to the levels of radiation left on Likiep, Wotje, Mejit, Ailuk, Jemo And possibly other northern atolls by the nuclear weapon 5 testing program. Ten months later, when a delegation from t Government of the Marshall Islands was invited to re Lurn to Washington, the members of this delegation were extr pPmely disheartened to learn that the Department of Energy had not even begun the necessary study of the medical proble! ns of the people of the northern atolis to determine the e rfFects of their low level radiation exposure. Instead, the Department had concluded a contract with Tabershaw Occupat lonal Medicine Associates of Rockville, Maryland, in the ount of 958,999, excluding travel expenses, for a six month roject. to send statisticians to the Marshall Islands to det rmine whether the preliminary questionnaire used by the Go ernment of the Marshall Islands was a valid method of ascert ining certain historical medical information. Faced with his apparent unwillingness of the Department of Energy t undertake the necessary medical survey, the Government of the 7