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-11-
Misconceptions
The Marshallese
the compensation
about The Lucky Dragon
and others seem to have a mistaken understanding
about
qiven the 23 Japanese fishermen aboard the Lucky Dragon that
was in an area about 85 miles east of Bikini as the Bravo test detonated (1, 3).
The boat appears to have been close to the center of the fallout pattern for the
men and the surfaces of the boat received a covering of fallout material.
Although
the men began to suspect what the material might be, they knew nothing
of decontamination
back to Japan.
procedures and were exposed for 14 days during the voyage
Within two days after docking, news of their exposure became
an international
concern.
The men were soon diagnosed as suffering from
radiation sickness and hospitalized.
of a complicating
May 10, 1955.
One man died six months later (Sept. 23, 1954)
infectio~s hepatitis while the remainder were discharged on
The radiation doses to the men could not be computed.
When it was found that fish in the hold of the Lucky Dragon were also
contaminated
and that fish being sold on the markets in .Japanese cities were
contaminated with radioactivity,
affected.
the Pacific Ocean fishing industry was severely
The Japanese were especially affected as much of the protein in tfieir
diet cocces from the sea.
Although the Bravo detonation probably contributed
most of the radioactivity detected at that time, it came to be recognized that
other tests may have contributed fission productions and radionuclides
reaching people via the sea-plankton-fish-man
sequence.
that were