~-2-
Dr. A. H. Seymour
As you recall, the only restriction that we placed upon the return
of the Rongelapese was that they should not eat land crabs, since
the last survey showed an unusually high amount of Strontium-90 in
their soft tissues.
Although we are sure the Rongelapese can live
comfortably without eating land crabs, it nevertheless became a
problem for other than strictly health reasons.
Therefore, when
the last survey was made (July 1957) we made a strong point of
colleeting land crabs and reporting their values at the very earliest
possible moment. By the middle of October we had not received such
data and again requested it. We still had not received the data
by the early part of February 1958 when Dr. Conard reopened this
question, since he was returning for his annual visit with the Ron~
gelapese. Upon further request the data were transmitted to us,
based on only two land crabs collected on Rongelap (and incidentally
the two mumbers of concentration in the muscle differing by a factor
of 12).
I fully appreciate the rather extreme hardships in making
such collections, but be that as it may, it still leaves us with
inadequate data to do our job.
I would be happy to sit down with you or anyone else at any time to
see if we can coordinate our efforts and responsibilities more fully.
ce:
Dr. Dunhan
Dr. Shilling
Dr. Western
9002174