Article: 977 of sgi.talk.ratical
From: (dave "who can do? ratmandu!" ratcliffe)
Subject: WWC: Stmt of Dr Bertell on Continued Distress in Marshall Islands, '89
Summary: Document 7 of Pt III, Testimony of R. Bertell before W.W.C., Miami, FL
Keywords: DOE omission of actual health status of Rongelap People
Organization: Silicon Graphics, Inc.
Date: Wed, 10 Feb 1993 15:33:50 GMT
Lines: 405
The following document is testimony Dr. Rosalie Bertell gave before the
Subcommittee on Insular and International Affairs of the U.S. House of
Representative Interior and Insular Affairs Committee concerning the
omissions by the Department of Energy regarding the actual health status of
the Rongelap People for which it was statutorily responsible as stated in
the record:
The DOE, through their contractor Brookhaven National Laboratories, is
statutorially responsible for the medical records of the Rongelap
people. Neither DOE nor Brookhaven provided the Reassessment
Committee with an overall assessment of the health of the Rongelap
People today. The raw data on health which is kept at Brookhaven was
not available to the Committee for inspection. In fact, the Rongelap
People have not even received their own individual medical records.
As a member of the Reassessment Project I asked several times for all
tabulated Brookhaven data. We received only the clinical blood tests
for the DOE (post 1957 exposed) comparison population, for 1957 to
1986. Unlike DOE published summaries, this data could be examined for
the Island on which the person was residing when the blood was taken.
Data which has not been released by Brookhaven for inspection by the
Reassessment Project includes the clinical testing for the 1954
exposed Rongelap People and the raw data which supports the reported
blood chromosome testing of the exposed and (post 1957 exposed)
comparison Rongelapese.
Again and again and again we see the standard operating procedure of a
government unaccountable to the people it claims responsibility for when
it consistently suppresses publication of data that, in a true democracy,
should be available as a fundamental check on the balance of government
responsiveness to the needs of the people it claims to provide for. WHY
would the DOE not release these figures unless they indicate U.S. policy in
the area of nuclear technology is lethal to the human body and all organic
life? For almost fifty years we have collectively been thrall to a national
security state mechanism based on the lies it started creating at the end of
WWII when the claim went out far and wide that atomic bombs and nuclear
development were "good" and would bring peace for all to the post-war world.
-- ratitor
___________________________________________________________________________
INTERNATIONAL INSTITUTE OF CONCERN FOR PUBLIC HEALTH
710-264 Queens Quay West
Toronto ON M5J 1B5 Canada
Tel: +1-416-260-0575
Fax: +1-416-260-3404
E-mail: IICPH@compuserve.com
STATEMENT 0F ROSALIE BERTELL, Ph.D.
before the
SUBCOMMITTEE ON INSULAR AND INTERNATIONAL AFFAIRS
HOUSE INTERIOR AND INSULAR AFFAIRS COMMITTEE
HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
UNITED STATES CONGRESS
November 16, 1989
Washington, D.C.
Charitable Registration No. 0715045-59-13
recycled paper
___________________________________________________________________________
Mr. Chairman and Members of the Committee,
My name is ROSALIE BERTELL, I am the President of the International
Institute of Concern for Public Health in Toronto, Canada. I am a
professional biometrist, qualified in the design and implementation of
studies of interactions between environmental pollutants and human
health. My Ph.D. was received in 1966, and I have been working in the
field of the health effects of low level radiation for twenty years.
I was a member of the Rongelap Reassessment Project headed by Dr.
Henry Kohn.
Based upon my research as part of the Reassessment Project, I am most
concerned with the fact that the DOE bilingual publication 1982, which
was the object of our study, did not include the actual health status
of the Rongelap People. This omission is extremely important to the
question of whether or not Rongelap Atoll can be safely reinhabited.
Consequently, our Institute carried out a medical assessment of the
Rongelap People. Dr. Brenda Caloyannis, a licensed Canadian physician
undertook physical examinations of 544 Rongelapese in January--
February 1988. A draft analysis of her findings is submitted with my
testimony. This IICPH report will be finalized after completion of
the peer review process.
HEALTH DIFFERENCE:
To illustrate my point that the medical status of the Rongelapese is
important, I refer to the following differences in health found by Dr.
Caloyannis among adult Rongelapese.
PERCENT ADULTS WITH MEDICAL PROBLEMS
Category in IICPH Study Rongelap Males Rongelap Females
DOE 1954 Exposed Group 88.5% 88.6%
and their adult children
DOE Comparison Group 63.6% 76.8%
(post 1957 exposed)
and their adult children
Not in either DOE Group 55.6% 58.1%
These findings require validation in a broader and more comprehensive
survey, but indicate the need for a cautious approach in determining
habitability of Rongelap Atoll.
Ill health of settlers is an important consideration when assigning
living space clean-up criteria. It has not been included in the
Habitability Study to date. The July 1988 Report merely stated AN
ADULT could inhabit Rongelap Island and does not make any such
findings as to the safety of infants, children or the DOE exposed
adults.
AGE DIFFERENCES:
It is well known in the study of the health effects of pollution that
the age of the person is of importance in predicting health problems
resulting from exposure to a hazard. For example, if one gives an
aspirin to an adult male in his twenties, in good health, the effect
would be expected to differ from that resulting from giving one
aspirin to an infant. The hazard is the same, but the hosts, and
risks differ. The DOE 1982 report and the Kohn July 1988 report
failed to consider an age specific health risk to the Rongelap people.
In the subsequent documents prepared by DOE which have dealt with
diet, plutonium body burden, or dose from internal cesium or
strontium, there is a failure to deal with risk to the child rather
than dose to the child. The U.S. Federal Register, Federal Radiation
Council "Radiation Protection Guidance for Federal Agencies" of 1960
states:
"The child, the infant, and the unborn infant appear to be more
sensitive to radiation than the adult."
The impact on health may be delayed in time. Women in the Japanese
atomic bomb studies who were under 10 years of age at the time of the
1945 bombing are just beginning to show a startling increase in breast
cancer. Rongelapese under 10 years of age in 1954 are still under 45
years of age. Their cancer risk over the next fifteen years is not
known. Their increased risk due to further exposure to resuspended
radioactive dust, external exposure to ground contamination with
cesium 137 or cobalt 60, and food chain contamination cannot be
clearly predicted on the basis of the DOE 1982 report, the July 1988
Habitability Report to Congress or any of the subsequent documents
produced to support the DOE 1982 conclusions.
It is also important to note that DOE data and support documents
produced after termination of the Rongelap Reassessment Project were
not independently reviewed by members of the scientific committee.
REPRODUCTIVE EXPERIENCE:
One of the major unresolved habitability problems of the Rongelapese
is whether pregnancy outcomes will be affected by residence on
Rongelap Atoll.
Adult Rongelap women, 16 to 34 years old in 1988, are more likely to
have reproductive problems such as spontaneous abortions, still births
or infant deaths if their parents were in the DOE 1954 exposed or
comparison groups (post 1957 exposed) than if neither parent was in
one of the DOE study groups. There is a factual basis to this
Rongelap concern which requires further clarification.
PERCENT ADULT RONGELAP WOMEN
WITH REPRODUCTIVE PROBLEMS
Category in IICPH Born before Born after Combined
Study 1954 1954
DOE 1954 Exposed
and their Daughters 66.7% *25.0% 62.9%
DOE Comparison
(post 1957 exposed)
and their Daughters 60.0% 36.4% 41.1%
Those not in
DOE study 46.2% 22.7% 25.6%
* For the DOE 1954 Exposed Population there is a ratio of 0.4 adult
children to every adult exposed person. In the DOE Post 1957
Comparison Group there is a ratio of 2.4 adult children to each adult
in the Comparison Group. For those not in either DOE Group there was
a ratio of 1.9 adult children to each adult over 35 years. There is
apparently a serious deficit of children among the parents directly
exposed to the Bravo fallout.
If either or both parents was in the DOE 1954 exposed category their
adult children were classified with the DOE 1954 exposed. Many of the
young adult women in this category have never been pregnant.
CHILDREN:
Dr. Caloyannis found among the children who were evacuated from the
Rongelap atoll in 1985, a very high degree of ill health, with about
42% having medical problems. Medical problems which were identified
only among the evacuated children were: Multiple Organ Systems
Malfunctioning, Autism, Anemia, Arthritis, Arthralgia, Epilepsy,
Down's syndrome, Facial Asymmetry, Loss of Nasal Bridge and
Meningitis. Heart Disease was diagnosed in 9.2% of the evacuated
children and in 6.6% of those not evacuated (and who presumably have
never lived on Rongelap).
PERCENT OF RONGELAP CHILDREN
WITH MEDICAL PROBLEMS
Children Evacuated
from Rongelap in 1985 41.8%
Children not Living
on Rongelap in 1985 35.8%
Children with Evacuation
Status not mentioned 15.4%
With respect to their parent's or grandparents DOE status, we found:
PERCENT OF RONGELAP CHILDREN WITH
WITH MEDICAL PROBLEMS
Parent or Grandparent's Status
DOE 1954 Exposed 42.4%
DOE (post 1957 exposed) Comparison 42.0%
Not in either DOE group 30.6%
MEDICAL RECORDS:
The DOE, through their contractor Brookhaven National Laboratories, is
statutorially responsible for the medical records of the Rongelap
people. Neither DOE nor Brookhaven provided the Reassessment
Committee with an overall assessment of the health of the Rongelap
People today. The raw data on health which is kept at Brookhaven was
not available to the Committee for inspection. In fact, the Rongelap
People have not even received their own individual medical records.
As a member of the Reassessment Project I asked several times for all
tabulated Brookhaven data. We received only the clinical blood tests
for the DOE (post 1957 exposed) comparison population, for 1957 to
1986. Unlike DOE published summaries, this data could be examined for
the Island on which the person was residing when the blood was taken.
Data which has not been released by Brookhaven for inspection by the
Reassessment Project includes the clinical testing for the 1954
exposed Rongelap People and the raw data which supports the reported
blood chromosome testing of the exposed and (post 1957 exposed)
comparison Rongelapese.
In analyzing the blood test data which was released from the
Brookhaven records on the (post 1957 exposed) comparison population.
We noted that for the sub-population actually on Rongelap Island when
tested, there was a significant reduction in average lymphocyte count
(a type of white blood cell) over the years:
LYMPHACYTE COUNTS OF RONGELAP ISLAND RESIDENTS
1957-61 3665 + 96
1982-86 2828 + 99
Even allowing for random error, these average counts are significantly
lower with protracted residence on Rongelap Island.
The importance of this reduction in cells involved in immunity and the
presence or absence of this effect among other Rongelap People needs
further examination and clarification.
Brookhaven records also showed an abnormal proportion of Rongelapese
living on Rongelap Island with monocyte counts (another type of white
blood cell) below 200 per cc. of blood. The normal range is 200-800
per cc. of blood. A paper on this characteristic is enclosed.
The importance of the monocyte discovery for the Rongelapese requires
further study and clarification.
Depressed monocyte counts have been important negative health
indicators in populations in Malaysia and in Canada with whom the
Institute is working. Monocytes make up the cellular system which
initiates the cellular immune system, i.e. lymphocytes, to protect the
individual from serious bacterial and viral diseases. It may also
play a part in diabetes and auto-immune diseases in general.
SUITABILITY OF BROOKHAVEN STUDIES:
It was a fairly consistent finding in the Rongelap Health survey
conducted by Dr. Caloyannis that the (post 1957 exposed) comparison
population health problems were proportionally intermediate between
those of exposed and non-DOE groups.
Release of all blood and chromosome data from Brookhaven records might
determine the legitimacy of using this comparison group as "normal"
for Rongelapese. The scientific soundness of DOE-Brookhaven
conclusions has not been examined by independent scientists.
THE FOLLOWING CONCLUSIONS ARE WARRANTED:
1. The scientific data used to support DOE 1982 was inadequate
because it failed to include the information on health and
medical history of the residents of Rongelap. Issues of
risk to children, to pregnant women and to those in ill
health were not addressed. Data produced since April 1988
also failed to address these issues. Moreover these later
documents did not have independent scientific scrutiny.
2. DOE's conclusions of habitability were inaccurate because
they were based exclusively on dose. DOE failed to deal
with the risk to the Rongelap people seeking to reside on
Rongelap Atoll within the context of their present health
disadvantage or their accumulated experience of 30 years of
living on the contaminated Atoll.
3. Before concluding whether or not the Rongelap Atoll may be
safely inhabited by the Rongelap people who seek to move
back, a comprehensive health survey and review of their past
experience with the residual contamination must be made.
Among other things, this study should include a release and
review of all Brookhaven medical data on Rongelapese, such
additional medical studies as are needed to discern the
reliability and importance of these findings for potential
residents of Rongelap Atoll, and such medical studies as are
necessary to answer all of the legitimate questions of the
Rongelap People with respect to their best options for
maintaining personal and reproductive health.
[Rosalie Bertell]
(Marshall.ConHear.119)
--
Humanity has been held to a limited and distorted view of itself, from its
interpretation of the most intimate emotions to its grandest visions of
human possibilities, by virtue of its subordination of women.
Until recently, "mankind's" understandings have been the only
understandings generally available to us. As other perceptions arise--
precisely those perceptions that men, because of their dominant position
could not perceive--the total vision of human possibilities enlarges and
is transformed.
-- Jean Baker Miller, "Toward a New Psychology of Women" (1976)