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Machine-read from the scan, so expect some errors. Lines that couldn’t be read are left out.
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ASSOCIATED UNIVERSITIES. INC . f t v the ;4orr,hall Tsland incident. shall Islands project, I am sending a copy of m y letter t o Dr. CORan3, who is the current director and to Dr, Dunham, Division of Biololgy and jledicino, Atonic bnergy Comnisaion urd to Dr, Bond the other author of the initial project. jectlon on the part of any one that they u ill contact you. I 8fso suggest that you write directly to any of the others if this would expedite your work. So far a5 1 an concerned i t is I a~strme that if there is any obImall look forward tothe replot of the CJa!r Ridge and the Yugos l a v blood counts on the same scale, Yith bast personal regards, Head, Division of merimentar Medical Hewarch Center
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Prostram Status: Two typeo of swrveys are being conductmd ut Rougelap, 0126 medial the other ecological. The msrdicrl mey io annurl and laled by Dr. bnard of Brookhaven; the ecolog%cal a uw qi erd - annwl8d led by Dr. Ueld of the University of Washington. Tbe two groupr join forces for the lurch survey. The ,work of the medical group is outlined i n eho letter of July 15, 1958, "The following plana and requirements are submitted for tbe proposed f i f t h year p o s t exposure medical aurvey of the MaratraIlese, beginning about 1 March 1959. The anticipated schedule of medical examinatlona is as follows. About two w e e k s will be spent at Rongelap where the exposed and unexposed comparison populations will be examined. During this period complete historiea and phyrical cuumitutions w i l l be done and laboratory examinations including two complete blood studies similar t o those carried out last year. About 200 people are involved. In addition whole body ganxm spectroscopy will be carried out. On completion of there examinations a t Rongclap, it is plannad to proceed to U t i r i k Island for the purpoees of te-aumdning the children for growth and development rtudiea, and carrying aut a lLmted d e r of whole body gcounto on a sanple of the populution. I t i r anticipated that these exlmnizuttfona at Uti rik would b e accompli8hed ia about 3bye, 8fter which the majority of the team would return to Kwajalefn and the United States. 8hould proceed t o Majuro to re-exmnine the Rita Village children. require only about 2 days and would complete the doeion. These latter plane are tentative a t thl8 tima.
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Sslectlon of perllomul for purfclputlon i r arrt cclaglrts. Itorrsvar, it war nlf k dy that about un 18 PILI team will be required (as lmt year) plum t b arrietaace of 3 - 4 liarshlleee medical aider in the field." Tha ecology program i a directed towards re k ch th t vi11 lad to an undkrstanding of the diartributlon of trdioisotapes in &he p h n t 8 , &ahale und soil8 of the atoll. taken and collections of pluntr and animrrle, arpecfrlly food item, are macle for the purpose of determining, quantitatively (UUJ quatitatfvelp the preieence of radioisotapae. 1958 although radiobiological rnrrvoy t r i p s had been mmQ earlier. mc:ond field trip was completed fn September. Ae part of this progrccm mrvey meter reading8 are The first f i e l d trfg of this program -8 March, &xpo.rd to Signiffcant Fallout Radiation. (2:) BNL 384 (T-71). A u g w t 1955. Twelve Wnth Pomtsxpooure Survey on (3) BNL 412 (T-BO), March 1956. Weal S u r v e y of Motokllese Tvo Yeare After Knpooure to Fallout Radhtlon. (4) T I D 5358, July 1956. Sopprr Effactr of Ionirhg RmMatiorr on Fhlman Beings. Utlrik Peopla Three Years Afur Exposure to Radioactive Fallout. Report of the - d i a l surveys are gfven in the following The report of the m o l t recent medial nunrep, Xerch 1958, fr scheduled for publication in the El& eerie. &ut Junruy, 1959.
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Tho biological data from collections made betmea rJurch 26, 1954, urd July 24, 1956, are owmrfzed i n tbe report by Dunning (August, 1957), '%.dioactiv@ Cont.minatlon of Cutain Arur in the Pacific Ocean from (the iart two were part of the ecology program) o m in July 1957, e second Ln March 1958 and the third In August - September 1958. t h e e wrveys will be prepared upon completion of 8nelyetsa of assnples frm thn most recent collection. request but the data h v e not been rooembled i n report form. Since 1956 there h8vs bein three radiobfologfcal 8 u V e y S Spec if sc inforumtion h a been provided upon the July 1957 collection the following data are on hand: Average values by yeare for 1954, 1955, 1956 and 1957 for (1). liver from Ailinginas Atoll. Gross radioactivity of land plants and algor from Rongelap and Ailingi-a. For the March, 19158 collection tbR following dru are ~ I Lband: A eummty report of the soil etudier vhLch wae the major effort of the firet field trip for thd ecology program. Survey meter readings at Rong e hp Atoll. Strontium units In bout samples from 13 Rmgrlap I. rate. Strontium units in skeleton and rrruwle of land crabs from Wngelap (51, Strontium unit8 in Scaevola leaves, Rongalap I.
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In addition there are two reports awaiting publication on the Rongelap su.rveys (1) aWn - 5 5 Radiobiological studies of the fish collected at Rongelop and Ailinglnae a t o l l s July, 1957 and March, 1958 and (2) the in, Rongelap Atoll soil April, 1958. For the August-September, 1958 collection we know thot: (1) Cocormt crabs were collected at Rongelap, Kobelle, and Eniaetok (5,5 & 1) but are becoming difficult to find on Boagelap. A duplicate sample of the food intuke by 9natives for 24 hours(2) (and urine sample f o r same period) has been collected. (3) Survey meter readings were taken and the regular collection of plants and animals were made. (after Hardtack) were about the same as i n March, The list of food it- I n (2) is being forworded from the University of t h e dietary habitr, of the natives. The survey meter readings i n August In addition, Dr. Coperd fs forwarding BOBIA of his notes about Sfmo ~ sIs. The Be wy fallout a tRo qe lap occurred in MPrch, 1954. Since that time there has been relatively little fallout and the rate of decline of radioactivity of any specific tissue boa been fairly linear on a plot of the logarithm of time (beginning with March, 1954) VB. the logerfthum of ac:tiVlty. There was asl fg ht but measurable incteaae in r sdio activity of Rongelop samples following t h e 1956 test series. In 1958 the survey meter readings were about the same fo llar lng the test series as they were before the series indicating little fallout if any.
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Sr-'90 i n any appreciable amount is found only i n the land Crdm. level of Sr-90 activity has remained rather constant since May 1954 altihough there may be considerable individual variation in samples from one place a t one time. The radioisotopes present ina July 1957 Kabelle Island soil @ample were In land plants most of the gamma activity is due to Cs137 but i n coconut and d trace of :<nus. I n the algae moat of the The only Srg0 iound i n fish tissues have been traces (maxim value 14 s.u.: in the reef fish from the July 1957 collection and one bonito from the 1455 a fish liver about 40% of the total activity was due t o Znb5; 28% t o Co57, Cos$, and Sooo; 26% to Be55; and about 5% to unidentified radioisotopes. Zn\'5, 2057, Cohoand if1154 were comnoxi in all soft tissues. In the liver of the coconut crab (Birgue) and the kidney of the clam (Trfdacns) 21165 and Coil0 account for a large part of the total activity. Foold samples collected by Dr. Conrrd have been Bent t o HASL for analysis and the food samples collected a t Xongelap this month (see Page 4) will be analyzed upoin arrival at the University of {dashington. The reports l i s t e d on pages 2 and 4 and the <data made reference t o on pages 3, 4 and 5 are available if needed.