Mr. Wallace O. Green
July 18, 1980
Pace Three
I have enclosed a recent critique of the Bender and Brill
mewetak Assessment, which calls into serious question the analysis
and recommendations contained in that study.
This recent critique,
performed by Dr. Rosalie Bertell of the Ministry of Concern for Public
Health, chellenges the interpretation of radiological data by Drs.
Sender and Brill,
and Dr. Zertell
proposed resettlement of Mmjebi.
fénother critique
(also
suggests prudence in considering the
enclosed) by Dr.
Karl 2. Mcrgan raises very
serious questions about the dose assessment calculations of Drs. Bender
and Brill,
sand on the basis of his analysis of tre Bender-frill
study,
Dr. Morgan seems to suggest that their study is inadequate for making
a determination about the proposed resettlement of MmJjebi.
In all honesty, I do indeed favor the resettlezent of mmjebi, but
only on the condition that another assessment of the potential health
risks be commissioned by truly indepencent and non-governmental radiatior
experts having no connection with the United States Government.
The
Bender-Brill assessment has been criticized by well-respected radiation
experts, and as competent as these two researchers may be, they presert
us with an inherent conflict of interest:
as you may know, both Sender
and Brill ere employees of Brookhaven Nationel Laboretory, and there is
an inherent corflict of interest when Government researchers assess
Government data.
As an alternative, I propose that ae group of truly independent
radiation experts be allowed to survey mewetak end Mmijebl, as well
as all of the Northern Mershell Islands which were exposed to fallout
during the testing program.
I have in mind several radiation experts
and doctors from an independent organization knowm as "Physicians for
Social Responsibility" (PSR), which is based in Boston, and which has
a membership of more than 1,500 physicians and scientists in the United
States.
I have been in recent communication with members of that
organization, and I am told that PSR is very interested in doing an
independent survey of the Marshall Islands, and in making recommendations
based upon such a survey.
Such an independent survey and assessment may cause a slight delay
in the njebi resettlement, but I do maintain that an additional six
months or so is really an infinitesimal period when contrasted with the’
33 years of exile already experienced by the Snjebi people.
Such a
survey will go a long way to attain some degree of objectivity in the
Marshalls, and it may be a way out of the "nuclear quagmire" which has
caused much in-fighting between various Government agencies involved with
the Marshall Islands, as well as the internal conflicts between the new
Marshall Islands Government and the people of Mmewetak. For me, such a
survey by independent radiation experts seems like an obvious solution
at the present tine, and we can only benefit from another point of view