COMPARATIVE ANALYSIS OF THE TRADITIONAL (1954 - 1978) AOL 17 BNL MEDICAL PROGRAM AND REQUIRED REVISIONS IN LIGHT OF ACTUAL AND PROJECTED EXPANSION EXPANDED CHARACTERISTICS TRADITIONAL CHARACTERISTICS Directe? toward early detection treatnd prevention of radiation induced 2. Islands involved have included Rongelap, Alinanae, Roneerik and Utirik. db. 4, tion; slations under study have included: 64 Rongelap - 175 R 4 ia uter 18 Alingnae - 6 GR 8 Utirik - 14 2 Rongelap received 175 R of gamma radiaAlingnae received an unknown amount (ap- prox. 69 R). Twenty-eight servicemen received an unknown amount on Rongerik; 158 people on Ucirik received 14 R. In addition, all of these islands received an unknown amount of ae short-lived radio-nuclides ~ predominantly iodine, 2. Recent developments in 1978 and 1979 have opened the possibility that islands other than thom 3. Tne Secretary of State of the newly formed Marshall Island government, Mr. Anton deBrum states that as a child on Likiep at the time of the Bravo test on 3/1/54, he noted a particulate type of fallout. He remembers the visit of the Renshaw and states that a number of the people of the island underwent personal dosimetry at the time of the visit. He states he can remember the Geiber Muller counter clicking rapidly during the counting of the feet of many of the inhabitants incidence being surveyed. During the ensuing 25 years, Mr. deBrum states he has noted a "very high of thyroid and congenital abnormalities in the people of Likiep. 4, 3 for by a 4 team of radiation specialists from the AEC and other nuclear labs. Following an extensive medical and radiologic evaluation of the exposed population, an agesex matched cohort was established for the pocple of Rongelap. No cohort was established for Utirik. Tne people of Utirik wera returned to heir island 3 months post-exposure; the people or Rongelan, 3 years post-exposure. Follow up In 1970, Dr. R. A. Conard (then director of the BNL Marshall Island Study) visited Likiep and attempted to perform a complete survey of the island aimed at detecting the presence of thyroid nodules by palpation of all available inhabitants. During this survey 135 people were examined and 5 nodules were detected. Of the hree major populated islands in the atoll, one was surveyed. in 1977, a similar survey was carried out on Wotje. Two of the four inhabited islands in the atoil ware visited. The visits to Likiep and Wotje were designed to determine the presence of palsable thyroid nodules in an "unexposed" population. Current data indicate that this popula- tion might in fact have had a higher than ambient radiation exposure. 5S, 5. The suns @ period olf 4 they were cared ct Same designated in the traditional study may have received variable amounts of radiation, producing a wide spectrum of long term low Level radiation of variable intensity. Recently obtained information from the papers of the USS Renshaw seem to indicate that on March 5-6, 1954 that there was a significant increase in background radiation at least on the island of Likiep (7 300mr/hr measured from the water of the cistern or the Catholic school. e too rs a. ~ 1. wm CG ba om l. the inhabitants of all islands other than Rongelap, Utirik, Alingnae and Rongerix have been ssured repeatedly that they have not been exposed to significant” radiation. € B rum 4 ki 1954. Recently, Mr. designed and circulated a medical questionaire to determine from a number of the people of and some surrounding atolls the prevalence of "thyroid" and “congenital” abnormalities since We have no solid information on the size of the population sampled. However, the survey has revealed an unusually high prevalence of "positive'’ results. The questionnaires have been completed by individuals and in many cases, by health care personnel. Interpretation of these questionnaires in their present format is impossibie from an epidemiologic standpoint, however the questionnaires do raise the possibility of an unexpected incidence of the aforementioned diseases in Likicp. This information has been presented to US - Department of Interior and US - Department of Cnergy and assurances have been made to the Marshall Islands gov't. that a careful and scientifically valid