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Miller obtained an effective half-time of 110 days for the elimination of
mn, and for the two subjects from Utirik the urinary to fecal excretion ratio
was 1/9.
Assuming the excretion to be entirely exponential and 10 percent of the
body burden of gn65 excreted in urine, the March 1958 urinary excretion levels
of 174 and 342 micromicrocuries indicate body burden, equilibrium body burden,
and daily intake as follows:
RONGELAP
1954 Exposed Group
Control Group (Unexposed 1954)
Body Burden (March 1958):
280 muc (+ 49%)
540 muc (+ 90%)
Equilibrated Body Burden:
330 muc
650 muc
Daily Intake:
2100 uuc/day ;!
4100 uuc/day #
Percent Equilibration:
85.0 percent
83.0 percent
The mean body burden estimated from 1958 excretion analysis for all Rongelap
subjects showed a ten-fold increase over the 1957 whole body measurements.
This
increase correlates with the return of these people to Rongelap atoll from
Majuro. Also the 1958 Rongelap zn®> burdens are comparable with the Utirik
subjects in 1957, and the Utirik subjects would have been in equilibrium in
1957 (half time of 110 days for the elimination of zinc®?),
The estimated intake of zinc? (2000 to 4000 wc per day) can not be
accounted for by zn©9 activity levels reported in foodstuffs.
Although this
radio-nuclide reportedly accounts for a large fraction of the total activity in
fish, this amounts to only about six uuc per pound of muscle up to 75 uuc per
pound of whole fish (2) or at most four percent of the estimated intake.
CONCLUSIONS .
Since resettlement of the Marshallese people on Rongelap atoll in Jwly 1957,
oe
the urinary excretion level of cesium>! has increased about 140 fold and about
# Assuming 100 percent absorption from the GI Tract
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