Office of the Assistant Secretary Territorial & International Affairs Interior Department August 1, 1980 FOBLOL Discussion Paper Health Plan for the Marshall Islands Meeting of August 4, 1980 The purpose of the meeting is to discuss the content of the health plan, required by law to be developed by the Secretary of the Interior and ~ submitted to the Congress no later than January 1, 1981. 1. The statute. The pertinent statute is Public Law 96-205, approved March 12, 1980, which provides in section 102: "(a) In addition to any other payments or benefits provided by law to compensate inhabitants of the atolls of Bikini, Enewetak, Rongelap, and Utirik, in the Marshall Islands for radiation exposure or other losses sustained by them as a result of the United States nuclear weapons testing program at or near the atolls during the period 1946 to 1958, the Secretary of the Interior (herein after in this section referred to as the 'Secretary') shall provide for the people of the atolls of Bikini, Enewetak, Rongelap, and Utirik and for the people of such other atolls as may be found to be or to have been exposed to radiation from the nuclear weapons testing program, a program of medical care and treatment and environmental research and monitoring for any injury, illness, or condition which may be the result directly or indirectly of such nuclear weapons testing program. The program shall be implemented according to a plan developed by the Secretary in consultation with the Secretaries of Defense, Energy, and Health, Education, and Welfare and with the direct involvement of representatives from the people of each of the affected atolls and from the government of the Marshall Islands. The plan shall set forth, as appropriate to the situation, condition, and needs of the individual atoll peoples: "(1) an integrated, comprehensive health care program including primary, secondary, and tertiary care with special emphasis upon the biological effects of ionizing radiation; "(2) a schedule for the periodic comprehensive survey and analysis of the radiological status of the atolls to and at appropriate intervals, but not less frequently than once every five years, the development of an updated radiation dose assessment, together with an estimate of the risks associated with the predicted human exposure, for each such atoll; and