About this iReport
  • Not verified by CNN

  • Click to view MEInonprofit's profile
    Posted August 2, 2014 by
    Springdale, Arkansas

    Nuclear Lawsuites prompt Marshallese to recall impact of nuclear testing


    In April 2014 the Republic of the Marshall Islands filed suit against 9 nuclear nations at the International Court of Appeals and in US Federal Court. The R.M.I. lawsuits argue that these nations are in violation of their obligations under the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty and/or international law. Nations named in the lawsuit include: the United States, Israel, India, Pakistan, and North Korea. The goal: to achieve a nuclear free world.


    Though the R.M.I. does not ask for compensation in the lawsuits, the filing does draw attention to the impact U.S. nuclear testing had on the people of the Marshall Islands, the lands which they so closely identify, and their call for redress. The U.S. government identified the people of 4 atolls–Rongelap, Utrōk, Enewetak, and Bikini–as deserving of compensation for damages done to property and life, most notably, by the Castle Bravo test on March 1, 1954. A 15-megaton thermonuclear blast, Bravo sent irradiated coral dust throughout the Marshall Islands.


    Jessica Schwartz, an Assistant Professor of Musicology at UCLA and co-founder of the nonprofit organization, Marshallese Educational Initiative, describes how children played in the fallout on Rongelap, believing it was snow, and how women rubbed the powdery substance into their hair until their scalps burned and their hair began to fall out.


    Neisen Laukon, a Rongelapese woman now living in northwest Arkansas, explained that men (presumably with the US military) arrived on Rongelap to check the island, likely for radioactivity, but left after only five minutes and without any explanation to the inhabitants. Unable to drink the water that had turned a dingy yellow, the Rongelapese had only coconut milk to consume. After suffering from burns, muscle pains, and hair loss due to radiation sickness, the Rongelapese were finally removed by U.S. military personnel, who arrived three days after Bravo turned the entire sky red.


    Laukon explains, “they made the women and children strip naked, and with the men, were made to load onto a ship, where they were hosed down.” The people were taken to a facility to receive medical treatment. Ultimately, the people of Rongelap were unwitting subjects of secret Project 4.1, a classified study of the effects of radiation on a human population.


    Three years after Bravo they were returned to Rongelap, where they were told it was not dangerous to live, but not to eat the indigenous foods. According to Laukon, they were given sea rations once per year in January when the doctors arrived to examine the population. When the food ran out, they ate arrowroot, clams, and fish, all which made blisters form in their mouths. Their feet were blistered too, just for walking on the sands. Miscarriages by pregnant women on the atoll were common, and oftentimes those born resembled a “jellyfish” more than they did a human.


    The suffering was not confined to the people of Rongelap or Utrōk. Genetic birth defects, and cancers, particularly in the thyroid and lymphatic system was, and still is, all too common among the Marshallese population.


    The 67 tests the United States conducted in the Marshall Islands was the equivalent of 1.6 Hiroshima bombs being dropped daily for 12 years. Though Bravo was the largest and spread fallout the furthest, other tests codenamed Yankee, Union, and Zebra also sent fallout onto unsuspecting atoll populations.


    Despite the obvious links of illnesses to the testing, the United States refuses to recognize or compensate any Marshallese other than those from the 4 aforementioned atolls. Yet, the U.S. military continues to use the Marshall Islands as a testing range and is an integral part of the US missile defense system.


    Today, the Marshallese have taken the moral high-ground in calling an end to nuclear weaponry–the effects of its use they know so well. On July 21st, the US government filed a motion to dismiss the lawsuit submitted in US federal court. The R.M.I. has one month to respond.


    In the midst of the recent headlines and legal wrangling, the Marshallese people still suffer, daily, from the impact of nuclear testing. Many are displaced and will never be allowed to return to their lands safely. Now with sea level rise due to climate change, they face a new threat to their homelands.


    Yet, the Marshallese people remain steadfast. They want to be heard–to be acknowledged for the sacrifices they made for the United States to become and remain a military superpower. They also want, and deserve, redress.

    Add your Story Add your Story