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Date: July 21, 1994
Contacts: Craig Hicks, Media Relations Associate
George Georgountzos, Media Relations Assistant
(202) 334-2138; Internet news@nas.edu

EMBARGOED: NOT FOR PUBLIC RELEASE BEFORE NOON EDT THURSDAY, JULY 21

SPECIFIC MEASURES NEEDED TO REDUCE RADIATION EXPOSURE
TO RESETTLERS OF MARSHALL ISLANDS ATOLL

WASHINGTON—Specific measures are needed to protect natives choosing to resettle the Pacific atoll of Rongelap in the Republic of the Marshall Islands, contaminated 40 years ago by nuclear weapon tests, concludes a new report from a committee of the National Research Council. Imported foods and special fertilizers designed to slow the uptake of radioactive cesium into native plants will be necessary to reduce the likelihood of exposure exceeding limits set under a resettlement agreement between the United States and the atoll's national government.

"Persons subsisting on a diet consisting solely of local foods might be exposed to radiation levels above the agreed-upon limit," said committee chair James V. Neel, professor emeritus of the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor. "But there are special measures that can reduce exposure. These precautions could be relaxed if radiation monitoring shows that the dose limits negotiated in the agreement can be met."

The U.S. effort to assist the people of Rongelap in resettling the atoll is perhaps the first to involve the return and monitoring of a population that was displaced because of concerns about radiation exposure. Resettlement is a long-standing goal of the people of the Marshall Islands who want to return to the atolls from which they were evacuated following nuclear weapons testing by the United States during the 1940s and 1950s.

The people of Rongelap were first evacuated from their island home in 1954, two days after fallout from the U.S. nuclear test BRAVO on Bikini Atoll caused widespread contamination. They were returned in 1957, with assurances that the radiation levels on their atoll were safe. But by 1985, fears that radioactivity on Rongelap was affecting their health drove them back into exile on another island, about 120 miles away.

Since 1985 they have reviewed the results of U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) studies and hired their own scientists in an attempt to determine whether the environment of the Rongelap Atoll—including the soil, birds, fish, and other foodstuffs—is safe enough for their return.

A key provision of the U.S.-Marshall Islands resettlement agreement is that anyone returning to live on Rongelap must be able to subsist on a diet consisting solely of native foods without receiving an annual radiation dose exceeding 100 millirems higher than they would receive from naturally occurring radiation. To meet this condition, the atoll's northern islands—those closest to Bikini—should be considered off-limits for food-gathering for at least several years, the committee said.

To reassure the people of Rongelap that the 100-millirem limit is not exceeded, those planning to resettle the atoll should be measured for radiation exposure before they return. Each year thereafter, every member of the resettled community should be retested, the committee said. A smaller group representing a cross section of the community should be tested four times each year to establish seasonal fluctuations in levels of radiation exposure, essential for calculating annual doses to persons most heavily exposed.

Medical services should be provided on Rongelap to permit continuing evaluation of the returning population's health, the committee said. Detailed medical records should be kept to meet the need for facts if the community once again becomes concerned about radiation-caused health problems.

The two DOE laboratories responsible for assessing conditions on Rongelap—Brookhaven and Lawrence Livermore National Laboratories—should improve coordination of their research activities, the committee said. Moreover, these activities should be coordinated with those of the scientists employed by the Marshall Islands government.

The committee's study was conducted in response to a request from DOE for help in evaluating the radiological safety of the Marshall Islands. The committee was asked to review DOE scientific studies intended to determine the potential hazard, if any, to persons returning to live on the atoll.

The Republic of the Marshall Islands consists of some 1,200 islands in two chains of atolls in the Pacific Ocean. The republic's capital, Majuro, is on an atoll located about 2,400 miles southwest of Honolulu and 1,700 miles north of Fiji.

The National Research Council is the principal operating agency of the National Academy of Sciences and the National Academy of Engineering. It is a private, non-profit institution that provides science and technology advice under a congressional charter.

Funding for the study was provided by the U.S. Department of Energy. A committee roster follows.

The report, Radiological Assessments for Resettlement of Rongelap in the Republic of the Marshall Islands, will be available in August from the National Academy Press at the mailing address in the letterhead; tel. (202) 334-3313 or 1-800-624-6242. Reporters may obtain pre-publication copies from the Office of News and Public Information at the letterhead address (contacts listed above).

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[Internet availability: This announcement is available on the WorldWide Web at http://www.nas.edu; via Gopher at gopher.nas.edu; and via FTP at ftp.nas.edu/pub/.]

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NATIONAL RESEARCH COUNCIL
Commission on Life Sciences
Board on Radiation Effects Research

Committee on Radiological Safety in the Marshall Islands

James V. Neel, M.D., Ph.D. * (chair)
Emeritus Professor of Human Genetics and Internal Medicine
Department of Human Genetics
University of Michigan
Ann Arbor

Stuart C. Finch, M.D. (vice chair)
Professor of Medicine
Robert Wood Johnson Medical School
Camden, N.J.

Bruce B. Boecker, M.S., Ph.D.
Assistant Director
Inhalation Toxicology Research Institute
Albuquerque, N.M.

Laurence M. Carucci, M.A., Ph.D.
Assistant Professor of Anthropology
Department of Sociology
Montana State University
Bozeman

Jesse M. Cleveland, M.S., Ph.D.
Chief (retired)
Transuranium Research Project
U.S. Geological Survey
Boulder, Colo.

Philip M. Dixon, M.S., Ph.D.
Biostatistician
Savannah River Ecology Laboratory
Aiken, S.C.

Janet L. Greger, M.S., Ph.D.
Professor of Nutrition Sciences, and
Associate Dean of the Graduate School
University of Wisconsin
Madison

Wayne C. Hanson, M.S., Ph.D.
Alternative Group Leader (retired)
Environmental Study Group
Los Alamos Scientific Laboratory
Bellingham, Wash.

Neal S. Nelson, D.V.M., Ph.D.
Radiation Biologist
Environmental Protection Agency
Washington, D.C.

Richard V. Osborne, Ph.D.
Director of Health Sciences and Services Division
Chalk River Laboratories
Ontario, Canada

Charles E. Roessler, M.S., Ph.D.
Professor of Environmental Engineering Sciences
University of Florida
Gainesville

Joseph C. Schoolar, M.S., Ph.D.
Chief
Division of Psychopharmacology
Department of Pharmacology
Baylor College of Medicine
Houston

RESEARCH COUNCIL STAFF

John D. Zimbrick
Director, Board on Radiation Effects Research

Larry H. Toburen
Study Director

* Member, National Academy of Sciences

Copyright © 1994 National Academy of Sciences. All rights reserved.

 

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