PROJECT 4.1 - U.S. Bomb Tests in Marshall Islands Still Raise Cloud of Questions.Those of us who attended the 50th year commemoration of the Bravo test -- when the U.S. tested a hydrogen bomb on the tiny atoll of Bikini in the Marshall Islands -- heard powerful testimonies from the survivors of that infamous day.
We heard stories of the radiation sickness they experienced immediately after the test and stories of the continuing illnesses faced by not only that generation, but the two generations since born to them.
But just as troubling as the stories of that day itself were the stories of what happened before that day.
During the Clinton administration, thousands of documents were declassified and released regarding the U.S. government's nuclear test plans leading up to March 1,1954.
Some of these documents alluded to Project 4.1, a study of human exposure to radiation. It seems that Project 4.1, drawn up in 1953, planned for a study of what would happen to human beings exposed to high levels of radiation.
It's not a long leap of logic to think that those people who were left on the three neighboring atolls were not just forgotten that day.
Instead, it seems these Marshallese were human subjects in a frightening and horrible test.
And just as troubling as the stories of what happened before that day are the stories of what happened after that day. There is reason to believe that the misgivings of many of the Marshallese patients regarding their annual medical examinations they received after the Bravo test may have been well-founded. Perhaps they were being studied, rather than treated for the radiation they had received in the bombing.
In the words of Mayor James Matayoshi of Rongelap atoll at the March 1 anniversary, "If Project 4.1 was conceived, planned and funded prior to March 1, 1954, where were the study subjects supposed to come from?" Where, indeed? It makes the Tuskegee syphilis experiment on African American men in the first half of the 20th century look like child's play.
Not surprising to some, many documents, including some photographs of victims and of grossly malformed babies miscarried in the months just after the Bravo test and the 66 other tests done by our government, were removed from the office of the district administrator in the Marshall Islands and were burned. Several other fires involving medical records of Marshallese exposed to radiation have been reported through the years.
As horrible as the bombing itself was, the planned use of human beings in a study on radiation is even more horrible to contemplate. Yet, here we are 50 years later and the real story of what happened that day, what happened in the days before March 1 and what has happened in the years since March 1, 1954 has not truly come out.
Here we are 50 years later and most of the people are still unable to return to their homes. Here we are 50 years later and none of the adjudicated claims of the individuals harmed by our tests have been paid in full and many claims have not yet been adjudicated by the Nuclear Claims Trust Fund, and nearly all of the funds set aside for this already have been spent. Here we are 50 years later and we have yet to say we are sorry or that our actions were dishonorable to the people of the Marshall Islands and a sin before God.
This is not a Republican issue or a Democratic issue because we have had both Democrat and Republican administrations before, during and after the Bravo test and they all are at fault. This is an American issue, of which most Americans know little or nothing.
The victims of the Bravo test, including Mayor Matayoshi, whose mother was on Rongelap that horrible day, still seek justice and peace. Source
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