Of interest among the twelfth annual medical survey observations was the absence of thyroid abnormalities in the 40 Utirik children examined who were of the same ages as the high-ineddence group of exposed children on Rongelap, The Utirik children had received considerably less radiation exposure, BACKGROUND Following the detonation of a thermonuclear device on March 1, 1954, during atmospheric tests in the Pacific Proving Grounds, an unpredicted shift in winds caused deposition of significant amounts of fallout on four inhabited atolls east of Bikini. and Utirik Atolls, These were Rongelap, Ailinginae, Rongerik Rongelap received the largest radiation exposure. Eighty-t--c people cf Pongelap Atoll were accidentally exposed to fallout radiation where the average whole body exposure was approximately 175 roentgens. Addittonal amounts of radiation resulted frem absorption of radioiodine in the thyroid glands, Since that time the U.S. Atom{c Energy Conmission and the Trust Territory of the Pacific Islends have sponsored annual medical surveys of the cxposed people. The surveys are carried out by a Brookhaven National Laboratory team, headed by Dr. Robert A. Conard from the Laboratory's Medical Research Center. Ii ecdiately after the 1954 exposure the people were evecuated to Kwajalein Atoll for treatment and were subsequently on Majuro Atoll until 1957 when they were returned to Pongelap. On their return to their home atoll the United States provided them with a new village and other facilities end services to essist their re-establishment, cbout 228 persons. The current population of Rongelap is Last year Concress appropriated $950,000 as “compassionate velie£" peyrcnt to the exposed population, a -6-=