Project 4.1

What followed was a program by the U.S. government--initially the Navy and then the AEC and its successor agencies--to provide medical care for the exposed population, while at the same time trying to learn as much as possible about the long-term biological effects of radiation exposure.

As Dr. Cronkite understood it, his mission was to "examine and treat the Marshallese and the American servicemen that were exposed."

Both men assert that the primary goal has always been the treatment of the exposed population

It appears that in the medical follow-up to the Bravo shot, treatment and research objectives were essentially congruent.

After their return to their native island in 1957, the Rongelapese continued to be monitored annually by the Brookhaven teams.

On Utirik, exams were carried out every three years, then annually with the appearance of thyroid abnormalities.

we found no evidence to support the claim that the exposures of the Marshallese, either initially or after resettlement, were motivated by research purposes.

We have found only two examples of research in the Rongelap and Utirik populations that appear to have been nontherapeutic: this research was intended to learn about radiation effects in this population and offered little or no prospect of benefit to the individual subjects.

For the most part, consent for tests and treatment appears to have been neither sought nor obtained.

the Committee believes that the AEC had an ethical imperative to take advantage of the unique opportunity posed by the fallout from Bravo to learn as much as possible about radiation effects in humans.

As best the Advisory Committee can determine, it is carrying out this responsibility well.

the U.S. government was using the Marshallese as guinea pigs in a deliberate human radiation experiment.

The dual purpose of what is now a DOE medical program has led to a view by the Marshallese that they were being used as "guinea pigs" in a "radiation experiment."

On March 6, the task force command approved a request by the Armed Forces Special Weapons Project to establish a joint study of the “response of human beings exposed to significant gamma and beta radiation due to high yield weapons.”

The objective of this project is to study the response of human beings in the Marshall Islands who have received significant doses due to the fall-out from first detonation of Operation Castle.

Due to possible adverse public reaction, you will specifically instruct all personnel in this project to be particularly careful not to discuss the purpose of this project and its background or its findings with any except those who have a specific 'need to know.'

Merrill Eisenbud, an affiliate of the Atomic Energy Commission Division of Biology and Medicine

by far the most contaminated place in the world and it will be very interesting to go back and get good environment data

While it is true that these people do not live, I would say, the way Westerners do, civilized people, it is nevertheless also true that these people are more like us than the mice.

In 1956, the Atomic Energy Commission (AEC) turned to Brookhaven National Laboratory to continue a program of medical evaluation and care of Marshall Islanders accidentally exposed to radioactive fallout following a U.S. nuclear weapons test at Bikini atoll on March 1, 1954.

Serious concerns frequently raised by the Marshallese during the visit of the Special Rapporteur included that the Castle Bravo test (see paragraph 13 above) was a deliberate attempt to assess the effects of nuclear weapons on humans.