[ RadSafe ] 51 years later, cancers from Bikini Atoll H-bomb tests only half over

[James Salsman]

http://www.abc.net.au/ra/news/stories/s1347234.htm

A United States study has found that the number of cancers caused by 
hydrogen bomb testing in Marshall Islands is set to double.

The study by the US government's National Cancer Institute (NCI) 
estimates 530 cancers have already been caused by the tests.

It points to the 1954 explosion of a 15 megaton hydrogen bomb codenamed 
Bravo.

The study warns that another 500 cancers are likely to develop among 
Marshall Islanders who were exposed to radiation more than 50 years ago.

The NCI completed the study last September but it was only publicly 
released last week after officials from Marshall Islands noticed a 
reference to it in a US congressional report.


http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&cid=1508&e=2&u=/afp/marshallsusnuclear

US study finds H-bomb tests still causing cancer in Marshalls 50 years on

Sun Apr 17, 4:49 PM ET

MAJURO (AFP) - A US study has found that the number of cancers caused by 
hydrogen bomb testing in the Marshall Islands is set to double, more 
than half a century after the tests were conducted in the tiny Pacific 
nation.	

The study by the US governments National Cancer Institute (NCI) 
estimated 530 cancers had already been caused by the tests, particularly 
the explosion of a 15 megaton hydrogen bomb codenamed Bravo on March 1, 
1954.

It said another 500 cancers were likely to develop among Marshall 
Islanders who were exposed to radiation more than 50 years ago.

"We estimate that the nuclear testing program in the Marshall Islands 
will cause about 500 additional cancer cases among Marshallese exposed 
during the years 1946-1958, about a nine percent increase over the 
number of cancers expected in the absence of exposure to regional 
fallout," the NCI study said.

The study said because of the young age of the population when exposed 
in the 1950s, more than 55 percent of cancers have yet to develop or be 
diagnosed.

The NCI completed the study in September last year but it was only 
publicly released last week after officials from the Marshall Islands 
noticed a reference to it in a US Congressional report and requested a copy.

It was prepared for the US Senate Committee on Energy and Natural 
Resources, which is scheduled to launch hearings next month to review a 
petition from the Marshall Islands seeking more than three billion 
dollars in additional compensation for nuclear test damages and health care.

At the time of the Bravo test at Bikini Atoll, US officials played down 
the health implications for islanders.

Bikini Islanders were not evacuated despite their land's being engulfed 
in snow-like radioactive fallout for two-to-three days after the Bravo 
bomb, which was equivalent to 1,000 Hiroshima bombs.

Although many islanders developed severe radiation burns and had their 
hair fall out as their land was engulfed in fallout, US Atomic Energy 
Commission authorities issued a statement following the test saying 
"there were no burns" and the islanders were in good health.

US officials later allowed islanders to return home to live in 
radioactive environments without performing any cleanup work on their 
islands.

The US paid 270 million dollars in a compensation package in the 
mid-1980s part of which went to the Majuro-based Nuclear Claims Tribunal.

But the tribunal says only a limited amount was made available for 
payouts and has described the original settlement as "manifestly 
inadequate."