Table 1 Summary of Fallout Effects.

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Summary of Fallout Effects Estimated gamma Ex tent,of Group* Composition Fallout observed dose,rad s skin lesions 64 Harsh all ese Heavy (snowlike) 175 Ex tens iv elngelap ling in a e 18 Harsh all ese Moderate (mist like) 69 Less extensive ng erik 28 Americans Moderate (mist like) 78 Slight irik 157 Marshallese None 14 No skin lesions or e pila tion lso exposed were 23 Japanese fishermen who received a sub lethal dose. During this period vigorous efforts were necessary to decontaminate the skin In view of the generally negative findings on the American servicemen,they The Uti rik people were also allow e dwere later returned to their duty stations. to return to their home island, where radioactive cont a mini it ion was slight enough to allow safe habitation. Because Rongelap Atoll was considered to be too highly contaminated,a temporary village was constructed for the Rongelap people(including the 18 from Ailing in a e) on Majuro Atoll several hundred miles to the south, where they lived for the following 3-1/2 years and were examined at yearly intervals by. a special medical tean. contamination, Rongelap Island was considered safe for habitation. was constructed, and the Rongelap people were moved there by Navy ship. In July 1957, after careful evaluation of radioactive Annual surveys by a Brookhaven medical team are carried out at Rongelap and also at Kwa j ale in and Majuro Atolls, where a number of Rongelap and Uti rik people now reside. Examinations on Uti rik Atoll are carried out about once every ‘ A group of more than100 Rongelap people, who were relatives of the exposed.- people but had been away from the island at the time of the accident, moved back with the exposed people to their home island and have served as an ideal comparison population for the studies. ’ 2.4.N in e years after the detonation,thyroid abnormalities began to appear the exposed Rongelap population,especially in persons who were less than 10

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years oldin1954. By Sept ep ber 1972 thyroid lesions kAad been demonstrated in 23 of 67 exposed Rongelap inhabitants,4 of 124 exposed ll ti rik inhabitants and 1 0 of 331 unexposed controls.Seventeen of 19 high level,exposed Rongelap child re dh 1 &.-&r,&Lwho were less than 10 years of age at ’ the time of the detonation,A owed thyroid lesions. Four malignant thyroid tumo Ron gel apes e and 1ina .Uti rike se.Enclosure1presents additional details regarding the thyroid lesions. A case of acute leukemia was detected in September 1972 ina19year old, high level, exposed Rongelap boy who was one year of age at the time of the detonation. The patient received excellent treatment but nevertheless expired a t the Clinical Center of the National Institutes of Health in November 1972. In contrast to the thyroid lesions for which a causal relationship W ingested radioactive isotopes of iodine.is considered definite, uncertainty exists with respect to the relationship between the fallout and the one case of leukemia. The late appearance of the leukemia speaks against the relationship while the small size of the exposed Rong e lap population and the early evidence of severe he ma top oie tic damage after the detonation may be cited as evidence for it.Neither argument is definitive. The scientific and lay world are likely to regard the fallout and leukemia case as presumptive ly related. 3,$ Compensation was provided to the people of Rongelap in accordance with U. S.Public Law no. 88-485, passed on August 22, 1964. The law was an indirect outgrowth of a legal complaint filed prior to 1960 that sought $ 8,50O,COO compensation for property damage, radiation sickness,burns,physical and mental agony, loss of consortium, and medical expenses(past,present,future and undetermined) by Li r tue of negligence on the part of the United States in the Bravo detonation. The case never came to Court because of a prior Court ruling that the Trust Territory constituted a foreign country and that jurisdiction in a U. S. Federal presented to the U.N.Trusteeship Council in 1960, the Department of State encouraged the introduction of legislation to provide compensation to the people of Rong e lap. After a plea on behalf of the Marshallese was P.L. No. 88-485 was titled “An act for the settlement of claims of certain residents of the Trust Territory of the Pacific Islands. ” The law stated that the Congress “ hereby assumes compassionate responsibility to compensate inhabitants

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in the Rong e lap atoll, ..., for radiation exposures sustained by them as a result of a thermonuclear detonation at Bikini Atoll in the Marshall Islands on March 1, 1954" -?=- The Secretary of the Interior was authorized to pay $950,000 less fees for legal services to the 83 inhabitants of Rongelap, orto their survivors,affected by radiation exposure after the detonation. Tile payment was made in full settlement and discharge of all claims against the United States arising out of the detonation. Each exposed individual or his heirs received approximately $11,000 as a lump sum payment. Although thyroid lesions were discovered by the Brookhaven medical survey team as early as September 1963, the bill was introduced prior to that date and was acted upon without apparent aware nes s- Medic a lo sequelae of the exposure to fallout. The bill did not provide for payment of compensation t o the Uti rik people L L .-who received an average estimated radiation dose of 14 rads from fallout. The people of Uti rik have felt slighted at their omission from the compensated population,especially since they were evacuated from their island to Majuro for a limited period and are included in the medical surveys at three year intervals. In November 1970 the Atomic Energy Commission made a sum of $16,000 available to the Trust Territory as an inconvenience payment tothe 157 exposed Uti rik persons or their heirs. It was felt that this token sum would satisfy the need of the Uti rik people for recognition. The High Cormnissioner of the Trust Territory never signed the executive agreement required to accomplish the disbursement of the payments to the Uti rike oe for reasons that we have not been able to ascertain. ~ ---__I_--