* should be noted that while the team included an expert on radiation
“ ite
aff -srts,
if Jig net oresume to take up a hichly technical role.
“<<
This was essentially a church visitation team sent as an expression
cf church concern, willing to listen to all persons and groups
having siaqnificant messages about that situation. We saw our role to
be interpretive, reflective, consultative and directed towards a
clearer, mcre Relpful response on the part of the churches.
ty
"2 ot O then te
“nong the categories of people we encountered were: people displaced
om their land, groups that experienced high levels of radioactive
allout, people living in “tempcerary" homes or are affected be-
ause their land is continually used for US presence and missile
asting, officials of the Marshall Islands Governments and other
clitical
leaders,
church
leaders,
a
lawyer,
medical doctors,
issionaries, an anthropologist, US officials and civilian employees
t Kwajalein and American scientists from Lawrence Livermore National
aboratories.
ii,
RADIATION AND RELATION QUESTIONS
In the 37 years since the atom bomb was first "dropped" on the
harshalls at Bikini, the lives of not only the exiles from their
tomelond
(Bikini
and
Enewetok),
or
the groups
irradiated,
but the
7
¢ oa
lives of all Marshallese have been radically altered. The effects
< radiation pervade their existence far beyond the readily observ-Sle and reported health and environmental effects associated with
me extensive US nuclear weapons testing program in the Marshalls.
Tiday, in the broad sense, "radiation" is a basic, pervading
reality for all Marshallese pecple.
iv..cdeed, a new culture, vocabulary and mythology have developed
eround the radiation question. Whenever there is a physical
Sebility, a.birth anomaly or other abnormality, the people
tend
to believe that such had not occurred before "The Bomb", Cases of
fish poisoning,
unusual plant disease,
the demise
of
the highly
valued arrowrcot plant (a traditional staple), seem invariably
to be attributed to radiation, even though this is contrary to
scientific evidence. Myth cr reality, these anxieties and fears are
vainfully real, and they are a consequence of the testing program.
The
radiation question
is
a difficult one,
even
for
scientists who
have been working with it for many years. Many dedicated US scientists
have been involved in an extensive effort over many years to assess
and treat the effects of radiation exposure of Marshallese and to
menitor the residual radioactivity contaminating many of the islands
in the northern atolls.
It would appear that they have performed
with a reasonable
of
with honesty,
and
in most cases -- particularly in recent years --
level
competence.
Nevertheless,
it
is
always
possible to identify areas where more attention should have been
focused. Two such areas which have become critically important are
(i)
the education of
the Marshallese on
the nature
of
radiation
and
ats human and environmental cffect and (ii) providing adequate
medical care and compensation for victims of the atomic bomb test.
Related to the first area the recent US Department of Energy (DOE)
rooks on the radioactive contamination of Enewetok, Bikini and the
northern atolls have been almost totally ineffective, and in some
-
we
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