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401754
AUG 08 1879
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Mrs. Ruth Van Cleve
- Director, Office of
Territorial Affairs
Department of Interior.
Pears
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Dear Mrs. Van Cleve:
I am pleased to respond to your letter of June 26, 1979, and its
enclosure dated June 15, 1979, in which you address the issue of
a medical survey of Likfep Atoll. This matter was raised by
Mr. Anton DeBrum, Foreign Secretary, Government of the Marshall
Islands, during the May 16 meeting on radiological problems in
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PaniTTALT
the Northern Marshall Islands.
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Before proposing any action on this matter, we felt that it would
be desirable to discuss the issue with Or. Hugh Pratt of the
ATa Sraeo:
Brookhaven National Laboratory (BNL) Medical Department. He
returned from his last trip to the Marshall Islands on June 28,
1979. Prior to that time, however, we had sent copies of the
results of the Marshall Islands Government's “local survey" of
medical information from Likfep to BNL for their review. BNL
has studied this {nformation, and Dr. Pratt discussed the matter
with Drs. Wachholz and Weyzen on duly 6.
As an initial step, in a letter dated June 29, 1979, we requested
the Department of Interior to obtain identification of those persons
known to be on Likfep Atoll in March 1954, We are pleased to learn,
via your letter of July 6, 1979, that a request for the {information
has been transmitted to the President of the Government of the
Marshall Islands,
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In addition, we propose the following course of action by the
Departments of Energy and Interfor:
1)
That the Department of Interfor request of the Government
of the Marshall Islands such vital statistics (e.g., morbidity and
mortality data) as might be available for residents of the Marshall
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