House Journal - 16TH Day (Concerning the Constituents from the Islands of Rongelap and Utirik in the Marshalls)

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Adding,a ncw Section 120 to Chapter 5, Title 77 of reoources, and for other ~.~l:poses. hmending Sulscction (4) of Section 5, Title 33 of the Trust Tcrritoq Code to expena the pwers of tho District Economic DCWIOFment Boards, ~nd for ‘Amending certain Sections of Title 49 of the COC!C? of the Trust Tezritoq to provide for cert.einpowers” fog ‘~c district represcncatives of the Ch~cf of th~”Division of Labor, and for other e=~-cs. RelatlnS to mortgages of real property or fixtures. To create a Special Joint Cahttce conce~.>:ng thcrcfor and for other purposes.

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then +bm Micronesia. There are a lot of competc>ntAmericans wk,o could replace them. Who do tncy think tlmy are turnil)~iic”-mthe wish~: of the Ue our islands. They have been here only a sh~zt tim~. Fir.Speaker, I * “Mr. Speaker and honorable colleagues, on b~aalf of two qroups of ‘our ,~onstituents, I rise today to express their hancere appreciation and grakitud[:for the ready understanding and moral s:pport that this Congress ~.h~ lrithe past unhe:;itatinglyextended to chcm. On their behalf I also - beseech this Congress co not forget thcm in the future but to co,,tinue ‘~~, “The people ~ am spcalringfor are our constituents from the islands *.. . f.of Rongclap and Utirik in L!e Marshalls. AS you know, these Micronesians ..4. ‘arc the brothers and sisters who were exposed to and have since been < “, “Hr.,Speaker, while I am not in possession af conclusive evidence “to prove it ,to this House, I am now convinced Lhat the United States %-muingly and consciously allowed the people of Zongelap and Ut~rik to.“. be.~xposed to the 1954 fallout. Ttllswas done ta the Rongelapese and -1 capabilities to treat its citizens who ., . ..> “We are told that the radioactive fallout on these people was an .,. accident caused lJya shift of winds. Who dcc~ the United States intend ““<’to,foal with this sort of statement? The reason, it is written, why Bikini ‘“was chosen as t.t]~.site of the atomic tests was that few pcopie would .CC ‘“affcctcd. This is an ackno,wlcdgm:ntMat the United States knew that .:thcse islands WCIC within the range of the failout. I CallnOLheip hL ?* conclude that this was a @anneal accident. The United St.:- chose to mtuceguinea pigs ‘ &t of our people because they are not white kut sow brown natives in.. 640??E2remote Pacific islands. .,”..1

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,+af atotic and nuclear wtapons, Utirik every year. The object tho collection of medic–aJdata of their visits, hck,.Jer,ap},earsto be instead of the restoration of hea)th to H-bomb victims who have acvclopcd all kinds of disc~ses and abnozmalitles. ‘~. Speaker and rcrbers of the Mouse, there is reason to believ~ hat the Administering Authority has chosen to neglect aI,dignore the health of the’W-boabw~%tims In Rongelap and Utirik and is nc.+obstructing efkorts by.others tf>restore health to these unfortunate victims of the borb. 1’ am c.onvinccdthat they Ilavenot been given proper medical cxaminati~n nor adequate tzcatment. These obsem?rticns are also shared by a profession’dl? Japanese medical team that I invit~!3to help our people but who weIe un;,L~ company, Accing Attorney General Euwles. As true quardian af the iaterescs of the people of Iiicrcmesia,uc must not allow these peop~et few aridremote as they are, to live ~!c way they have lived without seeking ways z..d mans to help ‘them. For 18 yc~rs they have quietly suff,:redand died, but now ‘-On their behalf, therefore, I am requesting that this Congrz::sin somo appropriate manner indicate its displeasure at the deportatioiiby i! the hdministcring Authozity of the Japanese medical team W}(O came to ~ I!lcroncsia last Oecember for the purpose of aiding the H-bomb victims in Rongclap and Utirik. I am sure that they will rejoice at ~uch an action ,.*1i ,“1 am also requesting on their behalf that the Congress of Micronesia conditiok~ of the people of Rongelap and Utirik. Speaker, to insert into the official records of the House certain information pertaining to what I have just been sharind with you for ULc last laariEaloG nentloiied. i wouid like the information to whl,h the c-JI_I?reSs~.=~ refarred LO becc%e a permanent record of the Con-jress,and 1 offcL” it for Visit of Japanese Medical

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befolc the arrival of the team and attending newmen (sic) in>istcd actually arrived on Dec. 7. cm Dec. 6, ReP. Bales had requested ~ ?’iLSCLO step into tha case and formally rc~lcsent himself and the with the AG. Neither Ataji m:r myself had any kn-ledge of rileactual ingress into the TT of the group. Ataji had assumed that thci would remain in Japan until ~ermission had been obt.linedf~c.mSaipan. Each ilecidodto enter the Trust Territory as tourl>ts and clear up the’‘“< business of goverx,mcntaFproval to do their dctual WOXK after tieir a,rrival. It should al’sobe noted that the group had made a rather ..confuscd and incon~lcte application to Saipan before their departure. .0 The irjitialapplication stated that only one doctor was in the party and 1..,, “The medical team was spcnsored by the Gcnsuikon, the Japan ICongress against ?iuclcarWeapoos. This organlzdtion is based In ‘Japan. Gensuikon is not, hcwever, a distinctly political organization and, according to the newsmen accompanying the party, receive. broad support from a number of political elements >n Japan. .,...,.. “Rep. Bales initially cor!tactedGensuiko,:durinq a visit to Of thcs.eislands concerning injuries resulting from nuclear fall-out dnd, also, the failure of the W.C field teams to txcat many individual victims or properly report.the .?cologicaland physical deterioration 0 aCCrUing on the islands as a ~..:sultof the $larch1?54 bod tests on govcrrmcnt. Perhaps for that reason, Gensuiko~Jagreed to organize :“ affiliated himself with the effort. Dr. Ezaki is a p ,xuninent.(sic) 0::s individual who WQS returning to Hicloncsia irom Japan on the ‘,:..

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the applicable law r,:vcaledthat under 53, TTC Section 54 an arplicatic,n for an entry pe=,it could bc made to and granted by the Distll(:tAd-” Slni$trator. we thcccfore determined to prcfent the matter ‘lrectly . to the Distad and procecdcd to his office in Ataji’s p+ck-up truck. The gtoup was introduced to the Distad and I expiained tb.ccircu.n~tances surrounding their arrival and assured MX. demxn thal until L!.e medical kntxy ap~li-cationwas acted upon, either by himself or Saipan, the group would remain in Najuro and conduct themselves strictly as tourists. I then indicated that under section 54, it was possible for the Distad to me an immediate evaluation of the proposed activity of the suney tearttand a decision as to whether they be allmfed into or excluded from Uuc’Trust Territov under the standar6s set cut in Section 56. The Diktad stated that he was aware that the application was presently under consideration by the Attorney General and flatly declirhedto take any substantive action not first approved by the AG in Saipan. It was unfortunate that at this stage, RUSS Walker was nOt pXeSent to advizc the Distad wl~owas extremely edgy and simply unwilling to accept my assurances that he had adequate authority to act. The Di~tad then proposed that we telephone Acting AG Bowlcs in Saipan. tourists, had no authority to he in the Trust Territory and aust depart on the afternoon flight for Honolulu. I stated that so long tourist activity, they must be allowed to remain pc!lJinqa deterBowlcs finally acjzcedto accept my offer to provide nim with a complete information concerning the personnel within the group his latest decision that the group was not- ’trbly a medical team’ [WC received his cable to this effect shortly after ~he phone call was concluded. It was apparently sent as sooo as he became aware of that hc immediately ccme to Najuro to make an lssesment (sic) of tho situation and conduct a hearing to determine the propriety of the applications. Bcwles refused. information he ha,dagr~pd to ,(ccive and insisting that the group would remain in Najuro as tourists u,.tilho rnadca substantive decision rcyardiligthe medical survey under Section 56. tiealso stated our Cases involving US nationals and ci:izeqs, lt is directed .sFecifically of the medical survey would, inevitably, have.to be Groundei upon the latter subsection .md- this, crmbined witjr Um fact ~krat ‘nationals’ mupport jurisdiction far an a;i,eal. P.c:,. Bales and the meaicrs of .’ t.hcRongclap Hun. Council, Xicroncsians, WC]C the real parties in

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aware of A/D 69-1. Indeed, the Inuni,~ratiol~Of[iccr pointed out .< I catididand fair and tacitly agreed to allow the J.~;~ncse to remain un$k% a Inorcsatisfactory Zcsolution Of Uic issue .ourd be .-btained. into account th~ r@litical and diplomatic lactors Lf the situation. Rep. Bales stated in his respunsc to tlwles’ cable that if Lhe Japanese were n~t allcwed to visit the islaods, he would encourage the exclusion of Or. Robert Conard and the :LECuntil the matter of the Japanese zoflldbe cleared up. Senatof kabua x~ccived a response Was necessary to protect the immigration security 0[ the TL~zitory . and the diplomatic s~,lrccsin .lapanand Wastiirqtonhad beer consulted before the decision had been made. We recclved no further <clarifimpatient throughout these ncgutiations since they had limited funds’ end limited tine to devote to Ahe enterprise. On Wed. Dec. 15th, ~L.ey determined to leave the next day. That evening, they inv~tcd AtajiLprovide US with copies of all the press coverage f:cn Japan. He “ also Lndicatcd Ulat if we could succeed in cmtaining Pcnnissicm to: conduct the suncy, they would bc willing to return, perhaps .~ext tho AG decision of Dec. 13 - this was the date of rticeiptof Lhe fir.aL denial of our application. Sec. 5$ allows appeal within 15 ueys.of:the c date of the decision by further with IUp. Bales the HiCornor his delegate. I will cm&lt~~- and seek advice and commentary frcx 2ZSC-- Thank you very much ~ti?’.l).,: sorry that we could not n,c~t~-bom~jSuf ‘crq:.

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inflimnccd still *YA, and wc Ccar that which will cauc. to bri,,q about another suffering as cancer in near future. ~~It is mar<-,if an inherited imvdiment caused by the radioactive fallout would IE,.Lhenuclear blast bring about such a many misfortune artificially, now. \fewill surely send you the final report when it will bc completed. For th~ time being, hctiever,I would like to write yfiu , my impression in I!ajuro,and also would like to give you SOITSsuggestion condition of a .aeseaso (sic) exactly ttia sufferer. If these is somathing unucual with Mm, I think the XC doctor have to tell hlmit and taka charge of his health. ...’, I?Iorder to taking charge of sufferezs. If it 1S impossibleI hope tkat a mdical specialist will be ststionetiat tla)b:o&nd let him Gbscrvo the condition of hcalkh of suffczcra and qive “3) Taking consideration of the above, I dare saythat the object of the AEC Investigation team does not put its focus on curing the sufferers but only collecting the data for their ‘4) I think it is not away of understanding patients quite well that the AXC only achieveg its duty by c!cstribuLing (sic) One year’s porticn of rnedicinc. ‘In Japan, We don’t take such a reckless way of dosing, for we can not scc how a patient will ct.ange in the c~crsc af a year kcfczehand. I think O.ac there is a possibility that a paticsf keCFS taking medicine having been giVSn him without awaring (sic) of changing fur the worse. I suppose this method of medication is due to that of the il.S.which ta!!es an interest in the medical science only and consider a Fatient merely as a material of experiment. . . Japqn., As they are apt to lose their fine health much casiiy ob~crved more carcfuily am-lhave time to talk with then so oftcr, that they firegiven sufficient ncdical treatmcnc. I dare say, too many unfortunate and miserable conditions to supp~; that I “6) Onc of my conclusion from this sulvcy Is tkat all action? . for mcdlcinc have to be Gone from the standpoint Olt I!-bcnb.

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“I hope t~.ltKC will be able to carry out the project which we could not do this t.imcin ~li(:ronc~iaaqaill. I have learned quite a cumstances and conditions which made our wurk uric.,y. And I also have learned a great clcalhow to pxocecd effcctlve formalities and the way of technique. We would IIke to make usc of this experience so &.at we wil<be able to carry out a s~uccessfulplan next time, and we would like to send more cxcellcnt team on that occasion. V hope you will choose right person for part:cjpating in the by yourself as far as the circumstal,:csof the Diet permit. ‘We would like to exprcns our hearty application for the numerous kindness you;hac!shown us in Uajuro. I assure you that ouz fricn~ship will grow up to be stronger without ceaeing, and I hope ao. .. . “We are looking fonaxd to your rcmponse lon.m “Patients as written below must need to be given the following medical treatment urgently. .’Nia grycosuria is hi~h, and need to be given follcwing medical ,: treatment as soon as possible, for if it is too late, it will , cause to bring about various descascs (sic). In the worst case, Need to take care of them t!]roughly {sic), for they are patients of high blood pressure. Contact with docror and have close r.edicai “ examination, and consult with him to take some preventive r.easures against the high blood pressure. t!opcthem not too much ovcxwork. . for whi,ch is not god for their health. ,.. :.,,. I don’t understand what is sw&llings in the abdomkn. In the worst case, I Jarc say, after tic operation cancer has transfeccd (sIc) to another part of her body,, hop her to take a C1OS8

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stored in hcr body. Comparing with the inhabitants of Kili Island 90+r is counted R times to 20 times as much hi(:h and “f Cs is 10 times artmuch as high in her’body. And the quantity of tl,tscclemnts in body had in to 1969, of which I am wry worried. As~~cas’’J+from 1967 in bone, it is thinkable that it is some related cause to elbments contain strong radioactivity, so they can surely lffect to human beinq<. I am nfraid if she is discou~aqed too much when she is told the fact. Bar Mr. Ataji Bales, I hope you encourage her not to bc distressed spiritually. I recormnend her to live on !!ajurobut not on Rongelap, because she had better not to eat anymore the foad containing radioactivity. ‘I hope all of them will recover their fine health as quickly as possible. ‘I am extremely sorry that I could not stay in your placo Introduced by: Re~. Mangefel Requesting the Joint Ccmmittee Budget Planning to insure that under the Capital Improvcm-cots on Program and the deck facilities Prcqram and the Five Year Plan in~ludc provision for new dockilg facilities at Colnnia, Yap, and to dcclarc the I,resent Introduccd by: Rep. Atdlig Nominating the Honorable John O. Ngireked, Land Mar@gcment Officer of tic Palau D:Strict, for consideration for appointment to the M.icronesian Representative \l>nucfr!l:Mr. Speaker, I would like the House to Dintrict -- -ChiefRobcnan, Chief Kenmcd, Chief Lukan, and Sccrctaty to the Council, Mr. Jesus Mangarfir. Representative Atali~ Mr. Speaker, may I ast the House to recognize Opportunity co express my sympatiiyto Congrcssna.]&Ilos and the people tratioo xoul.dturn …