Friday, April 16, 2010

Jellyfish Babies: Birth Defects of Nuclear Radiation

After WWII, the U.S. tested a bomb in the Marshall Islands that was 1,300 times more destructive than the bombs dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki. The people from one of the islands, Rongelap, were directly in the fallout zone and suffer cancer and major birth defects including "jelly fish babies" (babies born without bones and transparent skin.)

Lijon Eknilang of the Marshall Islands explains her experience with the effect of nuclear radiation. "I cannot have children. I have had miscarriages on seven occasions. On one of those occasions, the child I miscarried was severely deformed - it had only one eye...Our culture and religion teaches us that reproductive abnormalities are a sign that women have been unfaithful. For this reason, many of my friends keep quiet about the strange births they have had. In privacy, they give birth, not to children as we like to think of them, but to things we could only describe as "octopuses," "apples," "turtles," and other things in our experience. We do not have Marshallese words for these kinds of babies, because they were never born before the radiation came. Women on Rongelap, Likiek, Ailuk, and other atolls in the Marshall Islands have given birth to these “monster babies.” Many of these women are from atolls that foreign officials have told us were not affected by radiation. We know otherwise, because the health problems are similar to ours. One women on Likiep gave birth to a child with two heads. Her cat also gave birth to a kitten with two heads. There is a young girl on Ailuk today with no knees, three toes on each foot and a missing arm. The most common birth defects on Rongelap and nearby islands have been “jellyfish” babies. These babies are born with no bones in their bodies and with transparent skin. We can see their brains and hearts beating. The babies usually live for a day or two before they stop breathing. Many women die from abnormal pregnancies, and those who survive give birth to what looks like purple grapes that we quickly bury.”

Between 1954 and 1958 one in three births on the Marshall Islands resulted in fetal death. Hepatitis B and liver cancer is approximately 30 times higher in the Marshall Islands than in the U.S. Cervical Cancer in women of the Marshall Islands is 60 times greater and rates of breast, lung, oral and gastrointestinal cancer are three to ten times greater than in the U.S. Life expectancy on the islands has sharply declined to 40 years. Some communities suffer so greatly as a result of these tests that they have decided to stop reproducing and go extinct.

Some believe that the testing was planned by the U.S. government to examine the effects of nuclear radiation on humans. However, the DOE has produced studies that "prove" these people are not suffering from radiation. This research conveniently fails to account for the environmental causes of disease, placing the blame on the Native peoples actions. This leaves the government unaccountable for their policies of environmental contamination.

Please read this testimony for a 1st hand report of the impact of nuclear testing:
http://archives.pireport.org/archive/2005/June/06-14-com2.htm

10 comments:

  1. This is a pretty shocking article. What is most concerning about it is the fact that while the US government seems to not want to admit any wrong doing they are still paying for many of these peoples medical bills (according to the linked article). Implying that they feel some responsibility for the problems hurting these people.

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  2. My mom went to high school in the Marshall Islands on Kwajalein, which is a military base, providing missile defense (at least in 1970s). My mom has told stories of the struggles of the natives of the Marshall Islands similar to those you have talked about and I think it is awesome that you brought this problem to light. Many people I have talked to have never even heard of the Marshall Islands. This is probably why this issue is not as big of a deal as it should be. I find it hard to believe that our government claims no responsibility for exposing these people to the horrors of radiation. It is a sad conclusion, but I do not think the people of the Marshall Islands will ever receive even an apology from the US government as it is such a small population that has no hardly any international influence

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  3. I am one of those people that had never heard of the marshall islands and this issue is very saddening. Especially that women feel they have to hide and go through this alone because they are scared to be looked down upon, when really none of this is they're fault. Is there some way to clean up this radioactive waste? I think this story is an important reminder of how terrible nuclear weapons are. The united states need to not only admit to this mistake, but in the future make a commitment to not using nuclear weapons. The world looks to the U.S. as a leader and Obama needs refuse to even have nuclear weapons as a backup, and in my opinion not even use this devastating material for our energy needs.

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  4. I am very shocked to learn about this issue and I am rather appalled. The human impacts and health problems are most startling, but the environmental problems are also of great concern. I'm surprised that this hasn't been brought to public attention sooner.

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  5. This seems to be the problem with Nuclear effects on humans. No one wants to take responsibility for the lingering problems. I agree with Alec though, if the US is paying some of the medical bills for these people they have to feel like they caused the problem. However, this is the problem we face with harnessing nuclear energy. Like nuclear weapons, the fallout is virtually the same if a meltdown were to happen. Chernobyl is experiencing many of the same effects from their meltdown of their nuclear power plant.

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  6. This is awful! I can't believe what these poor people have had to endure. I really can't imagine going through something that hard and having your religion tell you that it was your fault! I really hope that this wasn't done on purpose and that nothing like this ever happens again!

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  7. I recently read a book titled 'Bravo for the Marshallese: Regaining Control in a Post-Nuclear, Post-Colonial World' by Holly Barker which goes into great detail about the events. In short, the Marshallese agreed to the Nuclear testing, but only because they had no concept of nuclear bombs, or any bombs for that matter, and because the Marshallese felt indebted to America for freeing them from Japanese reign. The U.S. essentially did as little as possible to warn the Marshallese about when and where the nuclear testing would take place, sometimes waiting up to a week after nuclear atmospheric testing to tell the locals to evacuate due to severe radioactive fallout. The Marshallese were obviously barriers to U.S. affairs and more or less a genocide was attempted. Many years later the U.S. attempted to remedy the issue with as little money as possible by offering health care to a very small selection of infected individuals, and attempting to help westernize the Marshallese by setting up a economically-centered city in the Northern, largest island. Because land was destroyed and infected with radioactive waste, the Marshallese could no longer practice traditional cultural and sustainable practices, rendering them to this city. The ultimate fate of the Marshallese is one of lost culture and drug and alcohol abuse in a hopeless, cultureless city.

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  8. It would interesting to know all of the devious and unethical things the government has been involved, this obviously being one of them. The worst part is, for most of these women there are few opportunites to advocate their concerns and recieve help. These women are completlely innocent, they did not choose to be exposed to incredible amounts of radiation yet are still suffering the consequences. It seems to me that as more environmental degradation occurs, such effects will be common all over the world.

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  9. i agree that the effects of radiocative bomb testing on human health have been tragic. However, an interesting ancillary opportunity presented by radioactive zones is using them as wildlife sanctuaries. The area around chrenobyl, for example, is now a thriving ecosystem of old growth forest and sitka deer. Similarly, the demilitarized zone in between south and north korea is one of the most biologically diverse in the world.

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  10. I watched a documentary called "Radio Bikini" if I'm not mistaken. Many of the people displaced from these islands during the tests simply wanted to go back to the radiation soaked islands to live out the rest of their lives. It was very sad that they were taken away from their haven and the island they called home and felt to be sacred.

    This is just a testament to how awful the side effects of the Cold War were. Nuclear proliferation is a very scary concept.

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