Memo to J Weisgall, Subject: Bikini Resettlement

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Ginsburg, Feldman, Iieiland Bress Re: Bikini Resettlement It was indeed a pleasure to meet with you recently so that we could have the opportunity to discuss the outgoing problems in the MarshalIs, and In particular Bikini. I too feel strongly about the need for independent scientists to assess the radiological and radiobiological data from Bikini, it is the least we can provide these unfortunate people who have suffered for many decades. As per your request, I will be most happy to expand upon the issues raised in our conversation. For clarification purposes, I will include the questions contained in your letter of January 7, 1982, which wfll be followed by my responses. 1. Misstatements and errors in the 1980 DOE booklet (’The Morning of Radiation at Bikini Atoll’) that you feel require Response. This DOE booklet, like the companion booklet for Enewetak, is replete with deceptive and misleading language, all of which tends to downplay and underestimate the potential health risks associated with exposure to low-level radiation. The following statements are representativeof those misleading distortions: !@E_?: “thyroid - A small part of the body located in the throat The authors should have pointed out that the thyroid fs essential for development and body metabolism, and that its injury led to the many cases of dwarfism and hypothyroidism in the Rongelap and Utfrik populations. Also, the authors neglected to mention that thyroid disease in the exposed populations has a long latency period lasting Page 2: “plutonium - A kind of radioactive atom, and an energy called ‘alpha radiation’ comes from it, Plutonium will not disappear for hundreds and hundreds of years.” The authors should have been more honest in pointfng out that plutonium has a half-life of 24,000 years.

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that have been established that people should not exceed.” To an unsuspecting Marshallese, this statement implies a threshold level of radiation injury. The authors should have pointed out that no radiation level is safe, as in the linear model, and moreover, that there is growing evidence for a super-linear model which states that cancer WY be . induced at lower levels of radiation exposure due to the numbers of cells that may be spared for a later malignancy. “radiation - A kind of energy that comes from radioactive atoms as they change and become other kinds of atoms. This energy we cannot see, hear, smell, taste, or feel.” Nowhere does it state that radiation is harmful to human “Of the atoms that are radioactive, some have aiways been a part of the world. These are God-made and it will take a very long time before they go away.” To Invoke the name of God with the Marshallese, who are very Christian, especially as it relates to radiation, is a cheap shot which takes advantage of the peoples’ religious beliefs. This statement violates the rule of logic insofar as it appeals to a higher authority--one almost gets the distinct impression that God sanctions radioactivity because it was present at the creation. This entire page distorts the fact that unlike other locations in the world, Bikini is the site of 23 nuclear explosions--with many of these in the megaton range. I do not know of a single honest radiation scientist who would return the Bikini to raise a family, yet the language contained on page 4 gives the impression that the radiation at Bikini is not very different from other locations in the world. “No alpha radiation is able to reach people’s bodies from the radioactive atoms In the soil.” This statement is false. Plutonium, an alpha-emitter, can enter the foodchaifi”’andbe internally absorbed into a human body . Also, it takes only one-millionth of a gram of inhaled plutonium dust to cause a lung cancer. It would be like playing radiation roulette to see how long it would take for the returning Bfkinians to contract lung cancer after living at their former atoll. “SOIW of the strontium atoms will leave the body when people ellminate, but many of the strontium atoms will remain in the bones, and radiation will continue to come from these radioThe authors failed to mention that whenever radioisotopes are ingested in the human body, they come into contact with normal, healthy cells. When this happens, the nuclei of normal cells are bombarded with radioactive particles and high- and low-energy rays which can alter healthy cells. The result of this nuclei bombardment can lead to cancer, and

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while living in a radioactive environment where there are known “hot-spots,” as well as foodchain contamination, the Bikinians run a high risk of contracting many forms of cancer over the years. Also, because the reproductive organs will be exposed to low-level radiation, it is possible that genes will also be affected, which may result in increased genetic problems. It is not unlikely that’the “ entire gene pool of the Bikinians may someday manifest in unprecedented birthdefects, and the Bikinians should be warned about this possible fate. u: “Some radioactive atoms stay in the lungs for a long time.” The authors might have nwtioned that radioactive atoms which stay in the lung for a long time may cause lung cancer. “Therefore, there are people of Bikini and people of other places around the world who will get diseases of cancer that are not produced by radiation.” This is a ludicrous and dangerously deceptive statement as it applies to people who may reinhabit a former nuclear test site where they will be constantly exposed to low-level radiation. This passage is typical of how the DOE booklet downplays the health risks associated with radiation exposure. Page 17: “If the diseases of cancer appear among th~ people of Bikini who have received radiation or who may receive radiation in the future, they would be no different from those that appear in other people around the world.” The absurdity of this misleading statement barely requires amplification, I..wonderif the authors of this DOE booklet—— —. would offer those ridiculous statements to their own family members if they were considering the resettlement~ Bikini? Page 17: “k/hencancer occurs in a person, no one is able to know if the cancer came from radiation or from other things.” The authors know better than this: lJsingbiostatistical methods, radiation scientists are able to find statistically significant incidence rates of radiation-induced carcinoma, as in the Japanese bomb victims, the Rongelap and IJtirik populations, and the persons treated in childhood with X-rays for thymic enlargement. !29QZ: “Scientists know that it is more likely that harm (cancer) will occur to a person who receives a large amount of radiation then to one who receives a small amount of radiation.” It is hard to imagine that the authors of the DOE booklet did not read the 1977 Brookhaven report by Dr. Robert A Conard entitled ‘Sunmary of Thyroid Findings in Marshallese 22 Years After Exposure to Radioactive Fallout.’ On page nine of this report, Conard himself refutes the above statement where he says, “one can postulate that the thyroid doses in the Rongelap children (700-1400 rads) were high enough to cause many cells to die at mitosis because of lethal damage

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to the reproductive mechanism and thus to reduce the number of cells at risk for mallgnant transformation. At lower doses, as in the adult group, a greater number of cells would be spared for malignant transformation. The authoris are obviously attempting to obsecure the fact that low-level radiation may indeed be more dangerous at Bikini than the islanders might consider otherwise. and It is skin to a criminal act-to hide this information from”-— unsuspecting and unknowledqeable people-. !wd!!: “If people will again return to live on Bikini Atoll in the future, scientists can again use this instrument (whole body counter) to measure the amount of garnnaradiation from radioactive atoms in people’s bodies as a result of their living on the atoll.” This is tantamount to admitting that the scientists know in advance that the Bikinians will be ingesting ’gamna-emitters at Bikini, such as cesium-137 and cobalt-60. and follow these reconxnendations.” The authors, in mentioning the radiation standards of the ICRP, UNSCEAR, IAEA, and the EPA, neglected to mention that ..—- these radiation standards, far from being unanimously accepted, are probably the most controversial aspect of present-day radiation physics. The BikinianS have a right to know that there are many radiation scientists who feel that these radiation standards are extremely lax and that they grossly underestimate the potential hazards associated with radiation exposure. When one roads through this booklet, one gets the definite impression that there is universal consensus about radiation standards. Moreover, the Bikinians have a right to know that researchers such as Gofman, Mancuso, Carl Johnson, et al. have had their Government-funded studies terminated because their findings suggested that the accepted radiation standards underestimated the health risks of Page 21-27: The scenarios and accompanying risk estimates on these verses “worst-cases,” The Bikinians have a right to know this, especially in light of the history of repeated mistakes by Brookhaven, the DOE, Interior, et al. in the Marshalls. Specifically, the fact that the “unexposed” Rongelapese who returned with the “exposed” islanders in 1957 after Bravo became exposed to residual radiation should be relevant here. In this connection, the Japanese scientists who came to the Marshalls in 1973 reported that the Rongelapese should not have returned in 1957 must be mentioned. Also, the lesson or the catastrophic Bikini return in the 1970s should not be As an addendum, the authors of the DOE booklet have failed to mention the psychological impact of the weapons tests in

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the Marshalls. My doctoral dissertation specifically addresses this issue, and for the past seven years I have been gathering data about the social and cultural effects associated with the weapons tests. I am distressed by the fact that the Brookhaven researchers have continually ignored the psychological impact of the weapons tests, and “ I consider the psychological problems to be as important as the actual radiation-induced pathologies in terms of how the weapons tests have disrupted Marsha?lese culture. For example, when I was in the Marshalls last year, I spoke with Jabwe Jojur who is the magistrate of Rongelap. Jabwe explained that since 1970, when the DOE and DOD made the radiological survey of the Northern hlarshalls,that DOE declared the northern half of Rongelap off-limits due to — ‘ dangerous levels of residual radiation. Jabwe told me of the fears his people have of living at Rongelap, and related that the people know that fish in the lagoon circulate throughout the entire lagoon. Jabwe explained that the people have much fear and anxiety about remaining on Rongelap-- where one-half of their atoll is off-limits--and many people are considering abandoning the atoll altogether. At Enewetak, where many of the islanders have recently returned after the cleanup and rehabilitation program, it is , too early to assess the full impact of the possible psychological stress and anxiety which may manifest there. In my research at Utirik, I found an alarming degree of fear and anxiety among the islanders, especially since between five and six new cases of thyroid disease are diagnosed each year as a late-effect of the fallout from Bravo. The Utirik people believe that they are living in a still-contaminated environment, and worse, they feel that things are getting more serious over time. Indeed, the fact that five or six people must have thyroid surgery every year and be put on a daily medication of thyroid replacement bears out their worst fears and suspicions about their situation. Needless to say, the people now attribute just about every illness and malady to their radiation exposure, and it is safe to ,-, say that on top of the radiation-induced injuries, the people now suffer from hypochondria. When I try to point this out to the Brookhaven medical researchers, they continually laugh .(..’~” with scorn at the islanders and think it is silly that they should have these fears, As a social scientist. I submit that the people’s fears and anxieties are a medical disorder If the Bikini people return to the~ former atoll, it is my belief that they”tob will suffer from the knowledge-that - their environment is still radioactive and that it contains “poison”--the Marshallese equivalent for radiation. Additionally their resettlement failure a few years ago will loom ominously in the background to remind them that the scientists can make

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“2. A detailed explanation of the Rongelap verses Utirik exposure levels and resulting thyroid problems. Your articles state that a much higher rate of thyroid problems have developed among the Utirik group, which received only l/10th of the radiation of the Rongelap group, but I do not see precise numbers in the Annual Medical Report from Brookhaven, which is expected to be completed at any time. I therefore will restrict my figures to the material contained in the 1980 AAAS symposium (which I enclosed previously) by Dr. IiughPratt--these are the latest numbers I have seen regarding incidence rates of thyroid neoplasia in the Marshallese. Dr. Pratt states that in the Rongelap group (“exposed-and “unexposed,” i.e.; those on Rongelap during the Bravo fallout and those who returned in 1957) there were 66 thyroid tumors with 7 of these being malignancies. Pratt says at Utirik there were 16 thyroid tumors and 3 of these were malignancies. If these figures are adjusted, 7 out of 66 tumors at Rongelap are malignancies , whereas 12 out of 64 tumors at Utirik are malignancies. That is, there are nearly twice as many thyroid cancers at Utirik_than at Ronqelap. The Conard 20-Year Report may show an even higher ratio of thyroid cancer for the Utirik people. In connection with the above, a former physician with the Brookhaven medical team--Dr. Konrad Kotrady of the University of Utah School of Medicine--found the same phenomenon. In his 1977 report “The Brookhaven i+ledicalProgram to Detect Radiation Effects in Marshallese People,” Kotrady mide the following statement: “...the ratio of thyroid cancer to thyroid modules found in exposed people at both islands is higher at Utirik than at Rongelap.” (Page 8 of enclosed As indicated earlier, Conard himself explains that at higher doses of radiation many cells would die at mitosis because “of lethal damage to the reproductive mechanism and thus reducing the number of cells at risk for malignant transformation, At lower doses, as in the adult (Rongelap) group, a greater number of cells would be spared for 14arshallese22 Years After Exposure to Radioactive Fallout,” by Robert Karl Z. Morgan, in his 1978 paper titled “Cancer and low level ionizing radiation,” (In Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists, September, 1978, pp. 30-41) suggests that low level radiation may cause more cancer than previously believed, He supports this view with the same logic as that of Conard in the study previously mentioned, specifically with regard to the cell-killing effect at higher doses. I might mention that I am deeply troubled about the Government’s tendency to minimize health risks associated with radiation exposure. For example, in the 1980 BEIR Comnittee Report, it is stated in the chapter on …