ACL ASO DRAFT 2 WHWeyzen:clm 9/28/76 To the Chiefs and All People in Utirik Atoll Your letter to Mr. Roger Ray, dated July 1976, has been received by this office. We wish to thank you for sending this letter and bringing your views to our attention. We have carefully considered your views, as presented in your letter, and we appreciate the opportunity to answer your thoughtful questions. Even today, there are many facts about radiation that are not known, despite the large number of scientists that have studied this subject for the past 20 or 30 years. Even less was known about radiation in 1954 at the time of the exposure of the people on Rongelap and Utirik. Based on all available knowledge on radiation at that time, and using the best possible judgment, the Ameriean doctors determined that the people of Utirik were exposed only to a small amount of radiation. Hence, there was general agreement among the doctors that the Utirik people would not,in the future, show any diseases caused by radiation. Also, since they had shown little or no effects of their exposure, the Utirik people were returned to this island. radioactivity Rongelap, however, was more heavily contaminated with so the people of this island had to live elsewhere for about three years before they could return to their homes. In reviewing the data that indicates that the Utirik people were exposed to considerably less radiation than the people of Rongelap, one must conclude that the dose estimates are essentially correct. This conclusion is based not only on the actual dose estimates from measurements on the islantl. Even more important is that the Utirik people showed only veryminor , 30097] | if any, symptoms of early disease