Hearing looks at Marshall Islands fallout

A congressional hearing on Thursday focused on the long-term impact of U.S. nuclear bomb testing in the Marshall Islands and lingering health problems among local residents, who were treated by Brookhaven National Lab for 43 years.

Critics told a House Foreign Affairs subcommittee that the United States exposed hundreds of Marshallese to unsafe radiation from 67 bombs exploded during the Cold War. But U.S. officials defended their medical treatment - which included Brookhaven Lab's handling of the medical program from 1955 until 1998 - and said Rongelap, the island most affected by the hydrogen bomb blasts, was now safe to return to if the Marshallese are willing to go home.

Rongelap Sen. Kenneth Kedi told the House panel that his residents were never properly informed about the dangers on their islands after the 1954 Bravo Hydrogen bomb explosion, which covered their homes in radioactive dust.

All the residents were evacuated, but about 250 people returned three years later, assured by BNL that it was safe.

In his opening statement, Rep. Gary Ackerman (D-Roslyn Heights), a senior member of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, said, "The people of the Marshall Islands were treated with contempt, like guinea pigs. And there is no denying the responsibility of the United States for this treatment."

BNL officials have long denied such charges and have said all of their procedures were done with the intention of helping the Marshallese.

Although Brookhaven officials didn't testify Thursday and are no longer involved in the Marshallese program, an energy department official defended the U.S. efforts in the Marshalls and said conditions are safe for the return of Rongelap residents who fled in 1985 over concerns about lingering radioactivity.

Glenn S. Podonsky, the DOE's chief health and safety officer, said that radioactivity problems in Rongelap have "improved dramatically since the community left the island in 1985" and predicted "zero cancers arising from fallout-related exposures" if they return.

The House subcommittee is reviewing whether Congress should pay a $1 billion award to Rongelap, granted by the Nuclear Claims Tribunal in 2007 because of environmental and health problems tied to the nuclear testing.

In opening remarks, Rep. Eni F.H. Faleomavaega (D-American Samoa), chairman of the subcommittee that held the hearing, referred to issues outlined in Newsday stories and documentaries last August about Brookhaven Lab's nuclear legacy in the Pacific.