Publication Laka-library:
A twenty-year review of medical findings in Marshallese population accidentally exposed to radioactive fallout (1975)
| Author | R.A.onard |
| Date | September 1975 |
| Classification | 4.26.4.00/08 (PACIFIC - US TESTING AREA) |
| Front | 
|
From the publication:
Preface The medical examinations of the Marshall Islanders accidentally exposed to radioactive fallout in 1954 have now covered a span of 20 years. A 5-year period has elapsed since findings have been presented in full, and this report includes details of this period as well as a summary of the data for the entire 20 years. Some background information is presented first. The Marshall Islands were chosen as an atomic bomb proving ground at the time of Operation Crossroads at Bikini in 1946 and were subsequently used for numerous tests at both Bikini and Eniwetok until the moratorium was declared in 1958. These islands were chosen because of their isolated location in the vast, nearly empty ocean area of Micronesia just north of the equator, east of the Caroline Islands, and northwest of the Gilbert Islands, about halfway between the Hawaiian Islands and Australia. The Marshall Islands comprise 34 islands and atolls spread over some 180,000 square miles of ocean. Each atoll consists of a low-lying chain of sandy, palm covered islands connected by a reef surrounding and protecting a central blue-green lagoon. Habitable land area is surprisingly small- only about 70 square miles in the entire Marshall Islands. The climate is tropical, and the trade winds blow much of the year. The atolls involved in the 1954 accident are located in the northern Marshalls: Rongelap and Ailingnae about 100 nautical miles east of Bikini, Rongerik about 135 miles east of Bikini, and Utirik 275 miles east of Bikini. During the past century the Marshallese people have been governed by four countries. Germany purchased the Marshall Islands from Spain in 1886 and governed them until1917, when Japan took over under a League of Nations mandate; Japan declared ownership in 1933 when she broke from the League of Nations. The United States liberated the Marshalls in 1944, during World War II, and was given authority under a United Nations mandate to administer the scattered islands of Micronesia as the Trust Territory of the Pacific Islands; this was done first by the U.S. Navy and later by the Department of the Interior.
This publication is only available at Laka on paper, not as pdf.
You can borrow the publication or request a copy. When we're available, this is possible for a small fee.