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ilrs. Ruth Clusen Assistant Secretary for Department of Energy Enclosed is an article a“bout the Marshall Islands which appeared in the February 1979 issue of the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists. I thought you shodld be aware of this article since it might stimulate further public interest and inquiry. Sine ely yours, Environment, Health, and Safety Research Program Marshall Island Advisory Comm., w/encl. BEST COPY AVAILABLE
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The !ives of the people of the Marshall islands have been irreversibly changed by the U.S. nuclear bomb tests. Fe(lple in Hiroshima and Xagasaki. bcyn searching for sites far from .American population centers for fd,nher development and testing of p~r-rment looked to Micronesia in the A<>tern Pacific. whose 2.000 remote isimds have only one-haif the land :lr?a of the state of Rhode Island. Easternmost in Micronesia lie the \l~rshall Islands. about 2.200 miles <{jr’ficiertt. iiving off the ocean and iamts comprise oniy fibout 70 square reties. The atoils are rings of 15 to as m~nv as 97 isiets connected by a c~lral reef that encircles a clear blue lagoon. Out of necessity. the Marsn~ilese are traditionally expert fi~hermen. deriving most of their pro~em from the rich lagoons. while the iand provides coconuts, bremifmit, pandanus and tare. The most isolated and least westhe northern atolls of Bikini and Enewetak. Having little contact with foreigners (not even with the pauon), they relied on the outside world for almost nothing. Ironically, this very isolation thrust the Bikini and Enewetak people into the nuclear age. Bikini AIOil fitted all requirements for operation Cwssroaifs. designed to rest the destructive power of nuclear weapons on naval vessels. the Marsnalls went to Bikini in Febcan scientists were experimenting with nuclear weapons ““for the good of mankind and to end all world wars. ” He promised that [heir atoll would be returned after the tests were finished, and asked that [hey consent to be moved to ~rtother island. With more than 42.000 miiinel. 250 navai ships and more than 150 observation aircraft poised to enter Bikini .Atoll for operarion Cros~rod.$, the 166 Bikinians had little choice butto leave :hew island. Less than two years later, in December 1947. the Navy decided to use another atoll, Enewetak. for a second series of atomic tests. The Enewetakese, like the Bikinians. were relocated by the United States quicidy and with little planning to small. uninhabited atolls. Even while [he United States was removing the Marshallese from their is[ands. in July 1947 it was signing the United Nations Trusteeship tory of the Pacific Islands 1Micronesia), This agreement stated: ‘“In discharging its obligations. the prcmote the economic advanceencourage the development of fisheries. agriculture and industries; and protect the inhabitants against the loss of their land and resources. ” In addition. this agreement bound social advancement of the inhabitants. und to this end . . protect the rights and fundame;~td freedoms of all elements of the population wi(hotit discrimination; and protect shailese. however. what happefied during, the next 12 years ~vas that about 70 atomic and hydrogen bc~mb blasts devastated the islands and irreversibly changed the likes of the The Bikinians first moved about /00 miles east to Rongenk. an uninhabited atoll consis~ing of barciy one-haif square mile of land. Within two months, they expressed anxiety over the atoil”s meager resourcei and made the first of many requests to return home. Within a year. the .+merican medical officer reportec the Bikinians were evacuated to A temporary tent city at the Navy ome Kili Island in the southern Marshalls was selected for their next home. Kili, ~ sing!e island. has no lagoon or protected anc~orage: spring baits fishing and isolares :he island. On the other hand. iQli had plantation. and US. authorities hoped that. whiie the Bikinians were not a farming people. the islatx.i”s agcome its drawbacks. Thus. the Bikinians were forced to adapt n a completely alien environment. In early December 1947. W~stiington officials announced without preliminaries. thdt Enewetak was to be used for the next series of bomb tests. In less than three ~veeks. the to Ujeiang, the westemmust atoil In the Marsnails. Like Rongerik and Kiii it was also ur.:nnzbired. and for good reason. Uje[ang has only a quarter of the iand area cf Enc\vctc.k and its M-square-miie lagoon is less
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The last church >er.lce Bec.~use the islands could not support the growing Marsh allese food tind water occurred. More [ban once tiir Jrops of emergency food rations ucre needed 10 prevent starvaple~ei:~ aporized one island in the On ‘.[arcn 1. 1951. the United tamin~ted iijhermen aboard the vessel that ‘had strayed into nearby on the neighboring atolls of Rongehp and Utirik. And some 7S >ion utre aiso contaminated, atomic i~S[.’” But it was Par from Despite an incomplete and aiarrning wetither report indicating that winds from sea level [o 55.000 feet were blow”ing in an easterly direction toward Rongelap and Utink. the test tishlng near Bikini, ivas the tirst [hing ning to -lapan quickly. unaware that fallout. the 22 ftshermen began to poiure: itching of the skin. nausea anu ~om.lting. Within two years the m[lli~n in compensation for the Pro\ing Grounds in the United States. prior m dn atomic test series. forthcoming tests, was implemented. united ~t~[es did inform the chief of Rongehp chac d hydrogen test would >oon occur, \Vhat the chief was told ~ction> were is not cle~r: that he aster foun to betill his people is certain. Indeed. the Marsha llese on warned of precautionary mea>ures Ionlshed observers of the snow!ike fallout that covered them and their islands. On Rongelap the white ash half inches thick on the ground and fell into the drinking water tanks. Children played in the radioac~ive powder mcl an old man with v:>ion pro bierns rubbed the ash intu his e>es to we if this might wmehow cure his iimcnt. itoring) personnel on Rongerik ,\toil ing news of the nuclear cloud’s erratic behavior. .About seven hours after flr(~~()’s detonation. radiation levels on Rongerik exceeded their scale of 100 m}lliracis per hour. Incautions. the Rad Safe tem put on Medical reports on these men ~re children were the last to e.sperience posed Marshailese began m txpen. ence the effect~ of sekere radiation poisoning: itching ~nd burning ot the iting and diarrhea. Later in the month. in the second stage of ocu[e radiation exposure. many ot’ the people beSan 10 w boil} or partiaily lo>e their hair. :md skin burns began MTTIS and feet of those most h~avii~ The L’:irik people were toid by the Atomic Energy Commission thtit ““their island was only slightly cori - taminated and consi&red safe fer habitation. ” and they were rooked Three }ears later the Rongeiapese was jute for rehabitation. With this considered pert’ectly safe ior human
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higher than those found in other inhabited locations in the ~vcmid.The land \vill afford most valuable posed Marsnallese islanders. Laboratory report (prepared for the Jnd in 195? their kmay burden of radioactivity rapidly Increased. In In 1964. the !irst thyroid tumors ~nd cancers appeared. Since that time, ,more than 90 percent of the Rongelap children who were under ;: years old in 1954 have developed [hyroid tumors, Forty percent of all pared to an average of 3 or 4 percent Some people tvho returned to Rongelap in 1957 had been away t’rom the island when the bomb exploded and therefore had not been exposed to radiation. vey showed little difference in r~dioactivity levels among exposed and unexposed people living on Rorugelap. Howe\er. as late as 1969. the body radioactivity levels of preperform an independent >urvey of the Ronge!ap and Utirik people. Barred by the L’nited Stfites from actually going m Rongelap .md Utirik. the team examined exposed people in the dis[rict center oi \fajoro. The not exposed to failout. received a considerable amount of radioactive nuclides from the enkmonment. group actually became an “exposed” gro UP it \vas a great mistake to permit the people of Ronge!ap m return to their island in July [957 wl[hout sufficlen[ work having been done to remove radioacti~e poliution irom been only a year oid at the time of his exposure in 1954. died et’ myeloge - nous leukemia at the National Cancer Institute in Bethesda, Maryland. The .Atomlc Energy Commission has consistently obscured information about the irradiation of the people and their high incidence of thyroid disease and cancer. In 1975 trate. \vrote to Dr. Robert Conard of ‘“For me and the peopie on Rongelap, it is life which matters most. For you it is facts and tigures. We want our life and our health. [n land you’ve never once treated us as people. You”ve never sat down among us and really helped us honestly with our problems. You have told the peopie that the “worst is over, - then Lekoj Anjain died. I am ve~ worried that we will suffer The L_tlrik peopie were suffering as well. Because their exposure was considered “small.”” tests on genetic and second generation effects were not conducted on them. The Atomic Energy Commission had aiways COki the Utirik peopie that the 14 rads of radiation they h~d experienced was too insignificant to be harmful. Nevertheless. in 23 years the Atomic ported cases of thyroid tumors. ? ci them maiignan[. out of z population But suddenly in 1977 the cancer Utirikese rose so sharpiy that it equalieti [h?.t of the milch more tion. This unexpected increase has vise theories on tvhich rauiati~n dose creasing m the L_tirik peopie and [his was qui:e unpredicted and we had who has headed the .+tomlc Energy ministmtion) ,medical program in rne Utirik received iow rzdiation so ti & said Dr. Konrad Kotrady. a former
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Up to the 1940s the Marshall islanders, like most other Micronesians, were self-sufficient living off the ocean and land. [h}roid ctincer at Ctirik have strong i}, show’n that the theory was gram. ‘The people ask if this thyroid problem has suddenly occurred is it been :, rong ior so many years and that more problems will occur in the they have adamantly barred outside medical ~eams from the islands. Not until Ihe Rongelapese and others refused to undergo the 1972 \Ec medical examinations unless independentors added to the .AECteam for that Every >’ear since 1954, the AEC examined the Marshallese people. and every year they reassure them of their good health. W’hen the people is wrong with us, \vhy do you keep coming back every year to examine treated the Nlarshallese for 24 :.ears. a study by a special committee of the Congress of Micronesia sta[ed. found that the people did not understand Li}?>:rhi)lg about their exposure, the possible effects on themsei~es and to their children and on their enProtesting what they considered inadequate medical care and to underline the monumental cultural sonnel and the islanders. the medical checkup on December 19-6. and the ERDA phvsician was reve~ distressed and ang~ as a resuit of the radiation.”’ the chiefs of the atoll wrote the Energy Research and carrying pandanus leaves to build new I houses on Rongerik. Suifering from I malnutrition, (he Bikinians are 1 evacuated to a tent city on Kwajalein. February 1979 The Bulletin [3
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1<..,-Cln Rongelap, the white ash formed a layer 1% inches thick “. on the ground; it fell into the drinking water tanks .* and the children played in the radioactive powder. I Deteiopment Association in 1977. ‘The people feel that the ERDA program is in need of vast changes. ” While the Ltirik and Rongelap populations were experiencing the etfects of direct fallout exposure. [he peoples of Bikini and Enewetak u ere attempting to survi~e in their Because living conditions on both Kiii mci Uje[ang deteriorated further trust funds in an effort to allevute >ome of the problems. For the Enewetak people the trust fund was 5150.000 and for the Bikinians it was 515 per capita for the Bikinians). By the mid-1960s the people were Jernanding ~ return to their home isEnewetakese began to receive ex - !ensive international publicity for their plight. the pressure increased on the United States to return them to Bikini and Enewetak. In addition. the .Atomic Energy Commission. which had been increasingly c liticized for advocating that there tion exposure. was eager to demonstrate that low levels of radiation were net harmful to people, In 1968. ten years after the Marded, President Lyndon Johnson promised the 540 Bikini people a permanent return to their home: the rzdiation had dropped be!ow the danger level. according to the .Atomic Energy Commission. In 1969. an +EC radiological survey tion left and we can tind no discernible effect on plant or animal life [on In the early 1970s the Bikinians began >Iowly retummg to their atoll to he!p in the massive rehabilitation program. which included the replanting of more than 50.000 coconut trees anti many other local crops. as wellas construction ofa new, village. .\bout 100 Bikinians were on the atoli w hen the Law rence Live rrnore Laboratory conducted a radiation assessment m June 1975. The stud!. not relefised untilmid-1977. stated ing Bikini Island exceed federal t radiation) guidelines for 50-year population doses. ” A preliminary report issued by Energy Research find Development .\ssociation in restrict completely the use of pandanus. breadfruit and coccmut”uabs Despite These and other wam,ings. Energy Research ~d Development short time earlier: ‘“Our medical team has evaluated who ha~t been woiking on Bikini [he past two !:ears, There is some !ON level radiation remaining on the isbeen taken to reduce these levels. The internal absorption only slight from terrestrial food pian[ kini people or in their otlsoring from the smail amounts of radiariun [o flicting statements. in Isle 19-5 [he Bikinians tiled d federal law jult manding a comp!ete scientific survey of Bikini to determine if the islan’.i was indeed safe for h~bitatior. In late 1977. ERD.+ monitoring of the Bikinians who had rctumed ex-
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Because living conditions deteriorated further the United States instituted small trust funds. For the Bikinians, the trust fund yielded semi-annual interest payments of approximately $15 per person. Iier showed a marked increase in the timount ot rxiioac[lve nuciides in the people’> bodies, These tests show higher thun acceptable concentrain the island”> contaminated soil. The L’.5. government then began importjng all t’cmd(except local fish, \vhich was declared safe) and drink TO BiAlnl. This food program has compounded the Bikini dilemma: w bile ;he Bikinlans have been told that the island is radioactive and poterttiaii!, dangerous. the prospect of free fmx-i and housmrg and a chance to mote from Kiii—called the aged people to return. tion considered moving the peopie to another island in Bikini Atollv?getacies In an experimental garden to test mdioactivity levels there. Results from these experiments. however. weren’t expected for about a According to a careful report in the Los .Angeles Times. by February icy: Bikini was unfit for people to live on. Nevertheless. in .April. Trust re-establishing the Bikinians on Eneu Island. insisted that the people could remain on Bikini )lir~~ot(rhtlrm urml theexperiments on Eneu were coconuts. and that the coming medical tests showed. as was expected, no large increases in intemai radianal …