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BROOKHAVEN NATIONAL LABORATORY ASSOCIATED UNIVERSITIES, INC . ut. i3. David Bruner Atomic Energy Co mission &closed isa copy of the Summary and Conclusions for the5 and 6 year ?+?arshalleser e port to be added. t o the body of the report I gave you last week i n Washington. In view of the fact that we are considerably behind schedule in getting this report out,I -muld appreciate any conments o r suggestions whit? you folks nay have within a week o r 10 days i f possible. I do not have extra copies of pictures,tables, graphs, etc, and therefore hope that you will not require them. I hope that we can get this report out i n the near future. I hope that you were able to get the letter signed by the General Xanager off to the Kavy since there is considerable urgency, view of the shortness of time before the November trip.
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Continuing annual medical survey6 of the people of Rongclap Island wdtc carried out in March 1959 and Much 1960, S uwl 6 years after their accidental erporsurc to fallout. children were cxamiacd as w e l l 8s a sonewhat larger group of unexposed Rongelap During the 1959 sur- 82 exwed pttsonnel and their people who served as a comparison populaticw. In addition, a group of children a t Utirik, Majuro and KrrrJ8lein atolls who were Gontrola fox the growth and development studies on the exposed Rongelap children were also examined. The 1963 survey was brief, only the espoaed people being examined. As a result of their exposure i n 1954, many of the Bbngelap people had experienced early symptoms related to the gastrointestfnrl tract and skin. Later they developed a significant depression af their peripheral blood elecPents cornnic6ttak with th4 catculatcd dbse of gunmro radiation (175 1: Q 64 people and 69 r to 18 people), and beta burns af the akin olaag w i t h rrpot* epilatfoa. In tdbition, radiochemical analyses af urine sample. showed t h a t they have acquired related to their radiation exposure, such 86 1-6 fa wight of several pounds i n amst of the pcople during the first scveraf nanths after exparurc and suggestive evidence of slight lag in growth and dardoparrnt ob the ehildrar based on studies of height, weight and bone dewlopawst (but hconc2usive pending vedficcatfon of exact ages of sgllc of the children). In s p i t e of the depression ab hemopoitwis, w signrr of radiation illaess beveloped i n the people and no deaths occurred that could be related t o thek radiation exposure. Reeuwcrp of the peripheral blood elements, particularly lymphocytes and pi it e bts,hdkn very slow over No specific therapy ua8 given. Thc beta burtm,which appeared a b u t tm weeks after expasure,
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year ar tw, later. On return of the people to RmgeXap hlmd the very lcm levels of radioactive cbntamhation remaining there testrltcd i n a S&#t rise in their ating the general medical status of the people corpparcd with the uncxgcscd aomparfSon popai.atian, particularly in regard %o pay posaible &tc developfng effects of cnvircraaant on the asaimilatfam, excretion and bow burda ef radionulclides. X c d f c a l hbtories of the intervals between ths erpnfnatioor of 1959 aud 1960 mmD for th4 mast part, unenntffiI .ad rcrtdtod no major c l p i d e d C 6 of disease. two deaths occurred md in the unucpored group, three. "w o f the latter were due to influenza which they had rcquked during an epidepic on ?&8jal&in. V i t a l statistics. Nortality, Tbe four deaths that have occurred in the elrposad people since exposure represent a rata of 8.1 p e t 1000 populatioa, cum= pared with 8.3 per loo0 jmpulatian for the caPlqrrrbn pptr&tion urb 6.8 per lo00 population for the Marshall Isladl8 aa li whole. A rarisw of the birth rate of the U%porsed grarp over the p a s t s i x par8 seem8 to indicate no noticeable effeet of their cxpaaure on fert ili w. The 24 births that bve occurred represent a rate of 48 per 1000 p ~ p l l l r r t i ~ n ~oongarM with (L figure of 37.3 per 1w)o population far the
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pop ul a th represents a rate af 62 pet l000 popolllltiar. in the expoeed women, but dw t o pmcity of * tal rtntistd.c8 in the Musb8llero md the small number of people involml, the data arc not r e d l y -rbh to Phrrsical examhatiomduring both slif*yf) s b m d the trparsd sad the unexposed people to be generally in the s t a t e of good borlth. There were no disearses noted that earld bo related to radiation effects directly, Tha fncfdence of vatisus disorders in both adults and children was about the geum in We expcsed +rd &exGrowth and dealoplpcnt studies.A projeat en the verification of accuracy of age6 of the children has not been completad and, therefire, the suggestive evfdence prevfowly presented of possible lag in statural grorth in the expased children age group, threa bays and ha children fairly well established. A cardfarnseular survot of the adults shared RO outstanding differcnoes between C h c exposed and tmexposed gruups. Ttr pmple appcued t o bet less bypertension on the whale than ia noted i n our a a eb ty. An arthritis star- shared no p e a t differencar befwacra tbr erpaed and the unexposed people, and about the s l t a incidence as is see8 in American populations. An ophthlfmnlogical survey showtd no remarkable differenccu between the! expad and unexposed gratp+cept possibly as lig kt ly greater number of cases of pterygia, pingueculae, and corneal scars in the axposed paup. I+ ibi not tnrap.r if t h i s finding bears m y significance to radiation expasure. Slit lamp observe tions showed no opacitiea of the lens characteristic of radiation capastire. A0
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A dental survey s h a r d no signifAc8nt differences in either eufao rate or incidence of peridental diaeroc betrtsn expoecd aab u n e ~ a s e dgratps, Because of the poor oral hygiene gcacrrlly obstmd in the Warshallass, tha usual results of t h i s condition were observed, nmely, high caries rate in fsm-agc children, adcntuloaa mouths fn the aged. developing danticiana ia tne exposed children. Radiation expotare did nut 8ppc.r t o have affectEd Late affect8 of rrdiatian4 Aghg st\ld&cs. Var f ou a prrtaroctcrs Ostsally associated with aging were Bttaaured car cafimted on a 84+ scale (skh-loosenes~~ hud strength) . Conpar ism of these msasurcnrentr in uposed mb uuelrpored b d i - vidunla of the 8- age group8 shewed no apparent diffcrcrreas, A biological age score of individual and group u x was c ll art ted by w e of an average percentage L i f e simrteoiq sffectr of rrdiaticm haw not been apparent . As nated, tbe sortality rate wao .bout the illat in the exparred u in the tmexposcd people, M.lk1mnCfe8, leukemia aad dagencratire disemes, T b m e erne of CIICef that dcpoloped in the oxpaped group occurred at 5 years a f t e r erpaswe~too 8008j it k believed, tabcar any-particular relatiaa to radiation qdsrpc. Leutentia surveys including physical txzdnatioa, studies af white c e l l counts and differentisla, alkaline phosphatase staining and basophil counts of 4000 white cells showed no evidence of leuhaah OT lerrkmkc taidency. The cardiovmarlrr
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No mdiatian-induced cataract8 have barn &r~rrcdAn imy of the exposed Genetic effects have not bear specificrlly rtudicd dus to the small nuoabor of people involved. No apparent radiation-iwktead gae e tie changes have been detected on routine physical examination in the first-gbnttatfon children of cx- .c-H e m 8 t o ~ ~ i c a lsurveye shared agah canai&r&ble flux 3.n the year-to-year mean level a€ the leukocytesr in b o t h the empasad and emclrpaaed gratpa. -h&ku3&, w A - - ’ nthe mean leukocyte l e d of the exposed group at the tiate of the 1966 survep (no mexposcd peoprs were examined). fluctuations are not apparent. At S-)rars poat-cspantze, erposod paople shed mean platelet level8 which were still below the rawxpased man levels by 10 t o lS pet cent; However,,Imphoqte levels of the unexpcsed group. Wan erythrocyte levels were also &und t o be slightly IL A for tho fkst tbto equal. those lcwcr in the tlpcmed people. These bload elarcnts in tbe Alig8ae group alsa shcrvoed Serrra-iron & v a s were generally normal. In view of tbr cattinoad lac& of colapl.sta
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auropcur popu~atioasthus far tested and carsisteat w i t h populations living near ThE db tr ibf ion of hyrtoglsbh types shared the pop ub th to be Seta urlnary lavela shared ths Marshallese t o be the highest excretas reported for my population thus fu, Le- in the ellporscd Considerable eltttiaa amst be aa&ed in arrlnating #e results of these most clwcly U Lad with people of rattherut kir. Th.ae data rfim rsy be uoaful M 8 base line should genetic change8 wpear in h t r r gencratfonr, poSaiib2y related Results of other laboratory studies which were carried aslt on the 5-p- SVvveY hclrvicd the fbIlc#bg: Semm s rot din frrels*.d; ha8 been notad before, were generally
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firation studies +fa. partinfluenza 1, 2 rad 3, respiratory rfntitfrth prittitmiri and Q fever sirrnrad antPbodics of a U groups af rhses, acept that for Asia13 influenza which probably had nut pt seriously krpelv8d the! people of t h e Marshall fg ladr. Saiiu?p lewels in tbc mime and food indieitad about the same corrsuotptim Matshallcse might be related t o the fact that the prerlata native diet ppas prObabl7 lower in salt content than is the awpat wcstarnized diet at present. interesting t o see if there is later any increase fa the incidence of hypertension. Repsat studies of protein-bound iodine pnd t o t a l iodine and butanol csxtzactable -iodiae of the sera showed laver revdls than predoufilp reported, and i t thargh sone readings wetqsomewhat hi@. In four eases af the unexposed populatfaar 1 I, rather high incidence of diabetes. Mat caqlicated in several rns, Tky were quidciy evacuated fma thek island after the accident arpd a not returned to t h e i r &a88 until tbet yews later. In the interim 5 years since the original contsarrfnrrting ereuta additimal Cests Tbt gsncrrrlly laar beidscca of blpcrtcosion i n the It wilt be Scnrla asew fob Vitamin 8= ahwed l@voLs t o T h study of t h e fission produttrl in the Warhltsrllesc people has * have berm in .this emtribated to thc f b a i a a ptoducW in the -cnoironamt. Finall I there abotft not fncltrdb. a rariew ab hportcd fatds, a0 ordinup circugat mces .
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external dose meooureaaents on the island and the levds of radioactive fsotbptd vrrruld be cx pec td yhen the bagclap people returned t o their bc abl r nd in 199. ,- ‘\ in 1958 wm abut 0.68 pc, about 60 tinvs greater tbm the 1957 leva, while mean body harden af Zn*’, estimated f r o m tha 1953 #holc-bqdv counting data, i%llowing the return of the Rangelap people to their bland ~ 8 80.36 pC, 8 timas the 1957 G8ls lc vd s appeared to have reached a madmum mnd have actually dropped in 1959,
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