Memo to L E Farr, Subject: Regular Annual Survey of the Rongelap People Was Carried Out in March 1961, 7 Years After Exposure to Fallout

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fslands hkledical Surveys Trip Report, Medical Survey Rongelap people, March, 1961 BEST COPY AVAILABLE The regular annual survey of t h e Rongelap people Waa Carried out in idarch, 1961, 7 years after exposure to fallout, following personnel fron t h e U. S, and the Trust Territory participated in the survey2 Dr. Ezra Riklon, $ractitioncr* Ebcye, Marshall Islands Boon, Interpreter Majuro, Marshall Islands Memoth1 Howital, New York City Agana, Gum, bMrsha11 Islands Brookhaven National Laboratory So, Nassau Communities Hospital Rockvillc Centre, Long Island, 1I.Y. Bail Addk, Tech. Irving Jones, Tech, Will iau Scott, Jxch. Brookhaven National Laboratory Nelson, Tech, hiajuo, Max sh nll Islands Braest Gumsno, Tech, Urookhirven N a onal Laboratory Soras, Tech, Majuto, Marshall Itslands *Department of Public Health, Trust Territory of t h e Pacific

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hlerno t o Dr. Parr - 2 - 18 April 1961 Interval u story, complete phyaical exammation with specific eiilphasis on cancer detection, growth and development measurements in children and agin counts (phase microscopy), hematocrit, hemoglobin, special meat9 for alkaline phosphatase and basophile counts and, in certain cascs,retfculacgte counts and sera for iron date mi nations in ancnic subjects, blood volume by ch td um tagging (in selected American and hiarahallese subjects at Maj u o), additional sera for later studies ; urine routine an aly sia and collections for radiochemical analyses; dm it ed collection of food for radiochemical analysis ; x-rays (wrists i n children) for growth study, chest p l a t e s in adults (over 40 years of age); gamma spectroscopy (whole body c o u n t s in about 120 people at Rongelap (about half 10-ninutc counts and half 30-minute counts). The following groups were examined a t the dates indicated: Loc at i on Dates Bxpooed Ma juro Mar. 14,15,16 7 *Includes children of exposed. The examinations at Kuajalein were carried out in the Transport Company of Texas Xo qi tal (fornerly the Naval Hospital) and Xajuro atthe Marshall Island Memorial Ijospital. was transported from Bnfwetok to Rongelap v i a the Trust Territory ship hN KOQW for the examinations there. The whole body count8 were carried out on board this vesael, and the gh ys icd and other ex mi nations at Rongelap village. from Dr. biacdonald and the o t h e r Trust Territory personnel. The medical team cooperated and functioned extremely we13 together. The Narshallese people were most cooperative in sub n it tin $ t o the exaninations and the whole operation went off as smoothly as could be The medical team There was excellent cooperation ,' / 1' The medical data has not but i t can be stated that there were no apparent related t o ra a ation effects and the Good and about the sane There had been no deaths la tion. In the born wLkh cauaed q u i t e an impression on the people, and one young boy had died of pneumonia. The people had the u s d complaints

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PRIVACY ACT MATERIAL REMOVED about various effects cooperation was excellent, The following is thc chronological narrative account of some of tlic highlights of the survey: March 10-13 - \Ye arrived i n the early morning of 10March ' after an all nisht MTS flight and were rnct by several re pfc sent at ives of the riavy. I was impressed with the tremendous growth that has taken place on the Island since it has become the Pacific hlissile Range Testing Center. Xn addition to many dora i tories and school8 under construction,tlix.?rc were many curious-lookin2 structures re -l ated to the program there. Previous arrangements had been made Ezra Rik lon,practitioner at Cbeyc, t o bring the Rongelap people tothe Tcxaa Transport Company Ii ospital the following morning, most coe erat iv c in at ran zing for space and facilities at their hospital for carrying out the examinations. We were surprised t o see how many Rongelap people (around 50) had migrated to Ebeyc, I t had bcen hoped that the people could all be examined on h1arch 11th but in view of the large number of people there, it was necessary t o continue the exa ~ in z tion son Sunday, 12 March. Several of u s also went over to Ebeyo to ex ad nea few people who could not g e t over to Kwajalein. March 13-16 - We left by Navy amphibious plane on the morning of 13 March ior k!ajuro arriving there before noon, We mat with Dr, john Ianan and arranged to carryout thc examinations a t the b far shall Islands Xe no rial Hospital for the next two days, That afternoon physicians on the tern made rounds and carried out con = sul t ation services with the medical staff of the hospital. Previous arra m gen cnt s lind been nnde with l4r. William Allen (Ad -m in is tt at iv c Assistant) and with, one of the Rongelap girls livin zat Majuro, to locate the Rongeltnp people living there. As at Kwajalein, we found more xonzclap people l i v i n g there than we had expected (about 30). W e were fortunate i n locating nearly all of these people for the examinations,Dr, ti, E , Macdonald, Dkec -t o r of ?u'olic llealth arrived via Trust Territory plane on the evening of the 14th. to participate in the survey, District Achinistrator, Mr. Boyd Xackenzie and I held a meeting t o discuss survey arrangexents on the ROQUE, I t was agreed that of the medical survey, The srrbjcct of the letter to the people of

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Memo t o Dr, Parr - 4 - 28 April 1961 Rongelap concerning future surveys waa discussed, and 1 was informed that the letter had been only broadcast over the radio, Since only three radios were available on Rongelap it would not seem l i k e l y that these peop.tc would have heard the broadcast, In view of the requcat by t h e AEC Office of the General Coun861, Nr, Finale agreed notto send the letter t o Rongehp for publication. The ROQUE s a i l e d on the evening of 15 March for Eniwctok ( 2 4 2 day trip) with Dr. Macdonald and the other T r u s t Territory medical personnel. A Navy plane picked us up the next morning rtnd flaw us back to Kwajalein. blarch 17-20 - We flew by MATS plnnc the morning of 17 ?:!arch t o hi we tok,net with Mr. Thomas Hardiaon and other I.Iolmes and Narver petsonnei to check into t i e rather extensive arrangements which were necessary to outfit the ROQuE on arrival fox thc survey, The ROQm arrived the morning of t h e 18th and the operations for on -loading the elzip were carried out in n vary e f f i c i e n t manner, The placement of the 21-ton steel rom in tbc hold of the ROQUP, was the nost ticklish of all of the procedures, in view of the fact the dock was n o t in the best of condition and that the crane was operawhen this steel. monster waa gently and precisely placed inthe hold of the RCXpJE, The wooden electronics room had been placed i n the aft end of the hold apace. Other parts of the operation i n .I’ clude d putting 30 medical boxes and wooden stairway into the hold, and welding of a 230-Kilowatt generator w c i hing 3?000 lbs, each on to the forward deck, and the onloading of gasoline drums, dieaef. oil tank end miscellaneous equipment. t o see this experienced group of men carrying out this work w i t h such precision and teamwork, The entire team boarded the ship S u n d r y morning, the 19th. and we set out in extremely rough ~ 8 9for Ronga2ap. Until our arrival a t Rongelap lagoon, some 30 hours later, most of the members of the team nas confined to their beds w i t h violent cases of seasickness. On anchoring in the lagoon off tk v i l l a g e of Ron elap, rigger canoe and we discussed on board the Ro Q n the purpose of our visit. We arranged a village meeting for the following morning to discuss with the people the objectives of our visit. The following morning a Navy plane arrived with five riggers ftam Eniwetok Island, furnished by Holmes and Narver to offload the 10 Killowatt senerator and transport i t to the village, They carried out thi3 difficult maneuver on thc ship ’ e small notor launch very efficiently, Following thi8, the borne of medical equipment were carried ashore and laboratory and ex mining facilities were sat up i n t h e village and on the ship, There was asigh of relief from everyone f t wae af ssc in at hg sight EIPOS, t h e magistrate of the Rongelap people paddled out !n his out-

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In the meantime, Dr. Macdonald and I attended a meeting with I did not feel that their concern mas any greater this year than /expressed in si,-Jilar meetings with tlk pkoglc during the paat to cae and felt weak;. Dr. Wacdonald told them that the Trust pursued since i t concerned administrative policy of the Trust Territory, Soac of the o t h e r complaints concerned poisoning by fish (an old complaint), They claim that certain fish have a black spot in their abdomen which they believe irti related t o radioactivity and causes the sickness, They are still disgruntled that they are not allowed to eat the coconut crabs which is for -bidden because of thc high conccntrakion of Strontiun90, cow laine d that the coconuts were small and referred t o certain changes in the coconut and pandanus trees which they believe arc due to fall aut. There was a complaint that I had not heard be -fore, that several peoplc had gotten inflammation and blistering of the Mouth from eating arrowroot flour, This latter complaint was probably dtlc t o isproper preparation of t h e flour which is known to uroduce such symptoms. 1 heard no mention of the: suit a gaim t the il nite d States Governcleat, (Dr, Macdonald had showed me a report oL the United Idations team's visit to Rongelap. The 1-t h c Rongelap people in the Counsel House and we told them about The people voiced continued c0nC8rn c about the effects of fallout on their Atoll and on themselvca. A chief corupldnt was that they were not getting enough This matter WaB not ts voiced to this group were about the same as described The people were very friendly and cooperated nall in carrying out the exanination. Every exposed person on the Islands submitted to the examinations and only a few of the control population did n o t appear. The survey went very ssnoothly and the Trust Territory medical personnel and OUT personnel worked well together, The examinations were completed 31 Flarch and that afternoon a party was held for tile ::ont;e&p people in a palm grove behind t h e village, Lemonade, cookies, and ice cream were served and mall trinkets Were given t o the people, t o show our appreciation for their cooperation, The Alarshallese sang several songs and their clear voices and close harmonizing style wa6, 88 always, most pleasing to hear, We put on several hunorous skits, takeoffs on the medical e d n a -tions of the people in which we examined each other. They were somewhat slnpstick but the people seemed to enjoy t h i s a great deal, Several old i*i'catetn movies were brought along and shown the peogk on several nights, We loaded the ship the morning of 31 March and s a i l e d for Eniwetok, W e were all quite happy that the return sea voyage was relatively

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Xemo to Dr. Farr -6- 18 April 1961 I discI:E;sed sr:rvey plans with Dr. Fiacctonald for next Year. In view of the fact that it was not likely that wholc body counts v ~ oul dbe aec css azy, the survey would Se greatly sj.np li fie d and thc zsc G C the ship would not be necessary. The survey tern, if phne(or gi:r;es), even better plan w nul d be to plan the survey t o cainclde with m e of thn usual Trtlst Territory field tri7s 5 0 th,c,t tlic tea ai:C rxcessary equip nen t could be transported from E!ajuro and I Iwa j a Ze into Rongelap on the riwuc. %is woxld sir pli fy for appr0:3.:;iatcly thc two-week period riecessary to carry out the e xxiii i at lons. 13.?:acdonald agreed to Lnvcstizatc various aspects of t1-e ii ving anr!, fee cling arran:;euents for thc group on the Island. Ne could procure our ova). food at Kwajalein and i t was felt that a ?4arshallese cook would ’xdesirable t o prepare the meals. The lU-%ilowatt generator that is now set up on the Island wol.tld ci!rwith th!! com let ion 02 thc survey on ?tongclap, and if so, tile tem c o ~ l l d?x transported back on tiiis shi?. If not, it could be ar -rar!Ced furti - & :Ja\;y to airlift the group back to :rwajalein, In vier.; of the charisin$ administrative setup in the Trust Territory thc new Pi strict Adsinisttator of the E.!arshall Islands), Dr. b!acdo:ialB agreed to keep Pe informed about the general situation,