t+ should be noted that while the team included an ex vert on radiation
did net oresume to take up a hichly technical role.
Pius was essentially a churen visitation
team sent as an express ien
ez church cencern, ‘ailing | to listen to all persons and grcups
-
having
a FT
ee
,e
sianificant messacqes
about
that
situation.
We
saw our
role
be interpretive, reflective, consultative and directed towards a
clearer, mcre helpful response on the part of the churches.
to
Among the categories of people we encountered were: people displaced
from their land, groups that experienced high levels of radioactive
fallout, people living in "tempcrary" homes or are affected be-
cause tneir
testing,
land is continually used for US presence and missile
officials
of
the Marshall
Islands Governments
and other
-Tlitical leaders, church leaders, a lawyer, medical doctors,
issionaries, an anthropologist, US officials and civilian employees
at Mwajalein and American
Lavoratories.
if,
RADIATION
in the 37 years
Darshalls
scientists
from Lawrence Livermore National
AND RELATION QUESTIONS
since the atom bomb was first "dropped" on the
at Bikini,
the
lives
of
not only
the exiles
from their
smol nd (Bikini and Enewetok), or the groups irradiated, but the
ives Of all Marshallese have been radically altered. The effects
t radiation pervaie their existence far beyond the readily observcle and reported health and environmental effects associated with
no extensive US nuclear weupons testing program in the Marshalls.
Tiday, in the broad sense, “radiation” is a basic, pervading
reality for all Marshallese pecple.
iv.ceed, a new culture, vocabulary and mythology have developed
around the radiation question. Whenever there 1s a physical
ebility, a.,birth anomaly or other abnormality, the people
tend
to beiieve that such had not occurred before "The Bomb". Cases of
fish poisoning, unusual plant discase, the demise of the highly
valued
arrowrcot plant
(a
traditional
to be attributed to radiation,
scientific evidence. Myth cr reality,
painfully real,
staple),
even though this
seem invariably
is contrary to
these anxieties and fears are
and they are a consequence of the testing program.
Tne radiation question is a difficult one, even for scientists who
have been working with it for many vears. 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
mcnitor the residual radioactivity contaminating many of the islands
in the northern atolls. It would appear that they have performed
with honesty, and
with a reasonable
in most cases -- particularly in recent years -level of competence. Nevertheless, it is always
rossible to identify areas where more attention should have been
focused. Two such areas which have become critically important are
(1) the education of the Marshallese on the nature of radiation and
its
human
and environmental
effect
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)
nooks on the radioactive contamination of Enewetok, Bikini and the
northern atolls have been almost totally ineffective, and in some
~
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ow
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