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)