reer ce NATIONAL INSTITUTES OF HEALTHCLINICALSTAFF TABLE 2, Estimated Body Burden of - Rongelap People Isotopes Activity at Day 1 Activity . at Day 82 Sr MwoBa Rare earth group WT (in thyroid gland) 8Ru Ca Fissile material 1.6-2.2 0.34-2.7 0-1.2 6.4-11.2 0-0.013 0-0.019 0-0.016 (ug) uc 0.19 . 0.021 0.03 0.0 — 0.0 0.0 present at 82 days after exposure. The most abundant isotopes were those of strontium and iodine. However, the people excreted this material quite rapidly. When they moved back to their home island we were able to detect an increase in body burdens in both exposed and comparison popula- tion due to the slight residual activity per- sisting on the island. This activity was largely due to 87Cs, Zn, and Sr. The body burdens of these elements have been ascertained from whole-body counting techniques and radiochemical urinalyses. During the first few years after the people of Rongelap moved back the levels showed slight increases in these elements but have since leveled off, and it is believed the peo- ple are in equilibrium now with these ele- ments in their environment. The levels are far below the accepted permissible levels. Until the recent development of thyroid nodules in the Marshallese people there ' were only a few late effects of radiation that we could relate to radiation with any degree of certainty. A persisting lag in recovery of the white blood cells and platelets until about II] years’ postexposure was be- lieved perhaps to be a lingering effect of radiation exposure on the bone marrow. Figure 7 shows the percent difference in the blood counts of the exposed Rongelap people as compared with those of the unexposed population. The general health of the people remained about as good in the exposed peo- gUd Lue i Annals of Internal Medicine ple as in the unexposed comparison population. Mortality has been slightly greater in the exposed people, and we are notcertain if this is related to radiation or not; but. there are a larger number of older people in the exposed group, which may partly account for this. Based on birthrates, fertility appears to have been about the same in the exposed and the unexposed people. An increase was noted in miscarriages and stillbirths during the first 4 years after exposure of the women. During this period 13 of 30 pregnancies in the exposed group (41%) ended in stillbirths or miscarriages, compared with only 8 of 49 (16%) tn the unexposed women. We have carried out studies to see if radiation produced any enhancement of aging by attempting to quantify such things as measurement of skin elasticity, hair graying, baldness, visual acuity, accommodation and arcus senilis of the eyes, audiometric measurements, blood pressure, strength, neuromuscular function, and body potassium levels. Most of these criteria showed good correlation with aging. By combining values for these parameters we were able to arrive at a biological age score for each individual. We have not, however, detected any significant difference in aging in the exposed as compared with the unexposed population. Indeed, the subtle effects of aging would probably be most diffcult to assess, and perhaps the tests we are using are not sensitive enough to detect the effects of radiation at this dose level. Degenerative diseases have been studied and compared in the two groups, and we have not seen any difference in prevalence. There have been three cases of cancer: two of the female genital tract in the exposed women and one case of cancer of the thyroid, which I will discuss later. Since the numberofcases is so small, we do not know whether this represents any radiationinduced increase in malignancy or not. We have noted only one case of cancer in the unexposed group. There were no radiation- oe meee 1222