avout radiological conditions in their atolls have not been
.
answered satisfactorily by DOE's Marshallese/English booklet
that evaluated radiological conditions in the Marshalls in
terms of risk and cancer fatalities instead of using radiation
standards.
The Marshallese, to my knowledge, have never
argued against use of standards or complained that they were
not applicable. This booklet may be a factor of confusion
rather than education for the Marshallese.
The full dimension of the-technical aspects of this problem in.
the Marshalls and the reasons for DOE's loss of credibility
with the Rongelapese, are not well known within DOE.
Dissatisfaction with the advice they have received reached
serious proportions in April 1983 when a party of DOE visitors
were interrupted in a meeting with the people on Rongelap by
an irate citizen and had to leave the island.
The meeting on
Rongelap was never resumed and the people’s anger and mistrust
(of DOE) has been-allowed to fester.
Many of us who have worked in the Marshalls have been
frustrated by the burdensome dietary restrictions, and we have
seen the hardships caused by the loss of use of fallout
contaminated islands.
All of this is being imposed by
application of radiation protection standards mandated by
Washington bureaucrats.
Right or wrong,
I. have argued that
exposures not found acceptable for the U.S. population are
also not acceptable in the Marshalls, and that radiological
criteria should be the same from atoll to atoll. This, of
course, is not compatible with the idea that the population of
each atoll should make its own judgment.
Short of acting
against Federal policies, or having the Department of Interior
(DOI) mount a successful effort to get an exemption from these
policies, the DOE appears to have no valid alternative but to
continue to apply current radiation standards in the
Marshalls.
Turning radiological judgments over to the people
was a drastic unilateral action.
This appears to have been a
profcundly disturbing experience for some Marshallese and an
action that undermined confidence in DOE and in the United
Statcs Government.
The new advice that was obviously intended
to give freedom of choice has backfired.
The Rongelap people
foliowed the advice they were given, made the judgment not to
accept the risk,
90015449
and left their atoll.