I218
Annals of
Internal Medicine
NATIONAL INSTITUTES OF HEALTH CLINICAL STAFF
Dr. RALL: For iodine I do not thinkit
RaDIOIODINE FALLOUT AND Its Bevgcts IN
much tellurium or iodine occurring natu-
Dr. ier A.
Ao: Before“¥go into
makes much difference because there is not
rally. The main factor would be just an
enormous amountof material on which it
can condense and be deposited rapidly. For
elements like sodium with great natural
abundance and that can be produced by
neutrons of varying energies, it does make
a big difference.
THE MARSHALL Isbayps
to review’very briefly the: #
and some of the acute early“effects that oc-
curred in the Marshallese people. A large
thermonuclear device was detonated on the
Bikini Island on Magrch 1, 1954. As Dr. Rall
Dr. Rossins: If there are no further
questions we will go on with the second
part of our discussion and hear something
about the events as they occurred in the
Marshall Islands. I am happy to introduce
pointed out, this bomb exploded close to
tist at the Brookhaven National Laboratory, Upton, N. Y. Dr. Conard was a member of the Naval Medical Research Institute
This radid&@tive material, because it was
heavier,fell from the cloud in a downwind
directidh, comaminating severalinhabited
to you Dr. Robert A. Conard, Senior Scien-
in Bethesda in 1954 and was one of the key
members of the team that was formed hur-
riedly to cope with the unfortunate occurrence in the Pacific Islands. In the years
since then Dr. Conard has organized annual
expeditions to the Islands and thus was on
the scene when thelate effects of the radiation became manifest.
the surface of the earth so that the fireball
touched the earth and the ocean drawing up
tremendames unts of particulate material
into the.¢
and:this material--became
mixed with the radioactive fissior®Products.
atolls to the @ast. Figure 2 shows a.rough
map of the Marshall Islands and the are’
invélwed in the fallout. On Rongelap Is-
land; 106Mfrom”
ing, the fallout re-
sembled a light snow and actually coated
the ground and the trees and became deposited on the skin and on the hair of the
people. The fallout was less dense the fur-
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MARSHALL
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FicurE 2. Map of fallout area, Marshall Islands, March 1954.
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