DocJax

Declassified record · U.S. Department of Energy

Preliminary Statement of Medical Findings in the 1965 Survey of the Rongelap People (11 Years) After Exposure to Fallout Radiation (Companion Document 178973)

Dated
Jun 1, 1965
Document type
Statement
Length
2 pages
Open the original scanArchive record OSTI ID 16377470 · public domain

Document text

Machine-read from the scan, so expect some errors. Lines that couldn’t be read are left out.

Page 1

PRELIMINARY STATEMENT OF MEDICAL FINDINGS IN THE 1965 SURVEY OF THE RONGELAP PEOPLE (11 YEARS) — AFTER EXPOSURE TO FALLOUT RADIATION) The eleventh annual medical unexposed people of Rongelap Island survey ;f the 76 exposed people and 200 was completed in Flarchof 1965. The health of both the exposed and unexposed people on the Island is generally good, and the nutrition in both groups is satisfactory. Nodules of the thyroid gland were detected in three additional exposed people: two cases in boys 12 and 17 years of age and the other in an adult woman age 41. These nodules “appeargrossly similar to the nodules found in three teenage g~rls in 1964. Following surgical treatment, these latter nodules were found not to be malignant. The three new cases are being brought to Brookhaven National Laboratory for further examination and treatment in June, 1965. No malignancies have been detected in the exposed group.which could be related to radiation exposure. No cases of leukemia have been detected. A few people show slight scars, and some have developed moles in the sites their previous “beta burns”, but with no signs of skin cancer. Mortality and birth rates have been about the same in the exposed compared to the unexposed group. No increase in incidence of miscarriages and stillbirths in the exposed of growth and development data no additional statement can be women has been noted since 1958. Evaluation for children has not been completed, so that made at this time in regard to the previously noted slight retardation of growth in boys exposed at less than five years of age. DOEARCHIVES.

Page 2

preliminary Scacement-1965 Medical Survey of Rongelapesee -2Preliminary analysis indicates that the slight depression of blood elemenis ?reviously noted has returned to normal, The people appear to be quite well adjusted to their life on their home island to which they were returned in 1957, and exhibit no untoward psychological reactions to their experience. Head, Marshall Islands Medical Survey Medical Research Center Brookhaven Xational Laboratory