WHEREAS, the International Declaration of Human Rights guarantees all world citizens the right to life and health and a clean environment, and one of the essential components in this fundamental right is the right to open information on environmental hazards and the short- and long-term effects of environmental contamination on human health; and

WHEREAS, given the continuing widespread reliance of many governments on nuclear energy and nuclear weapons, and given the imminent threat of acts of terror at nuclear facilities that could release large volumes of radiation into the global environment, it is essential that the federal government gather comprehensive data from a wide range of communities on sustained and extensive exposure to low-level radiation; and

WHEREAS, the United States government carried out sixty-seven above-ground tests of atomic and hydrogen bombs in the region of Enewetak and Bikini in the Marshall Islands from 1946 through 1958; and

WHEREAS, these bomb tests affected not only the atolls of Enewetak and Bikini, but also the downwind atolls of Rongelap, Utrik, Ujae, and others; and

WHEREAS, these atomic blasts were thousands of times more powerful than the bombs dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki, Japan; and

WHEREAS, three islands in the Bikini atoll and three islands in the Enewetak atoll completely ceased to exist as a result of these tests; and

WHEREAS, the federal government deliberately failed to protect the citizens of the Republic of the Marshall Islands from exposure to radioactive fallout; and

WHEREAS, significant numbers of residents of the four affected atolls experienced acute radiation sickness, thyroid cancer, skin cancer, other oncological illnesses, leukemia, birth defects, stillbirths, damage to reproductive organs, and endocrine disorders as a result of this exposure; and

WHEREAS, some of the radioactive materials released in massive quantities in these atomic tests remain dangerously radioactive for thousands of years; and

WHEREAS, the federal government has failed to conduct comprehensive, independent, open, and transparent health studies to determine the overall impact of the atomic bomb tests on the health of the citizens of the Marshall Islands; and

WHEREAS, newly declassified documents have verified that the federal government carried out radiation experiments deliberately injecting radioactive isotopes into Marshallese citizens without their informed consent; and

WHEREAS, officials from the United States Department of Energy, the National Cancer Institute, and other agencies charged with the protection of public health have admitted that they deliberately concealed or distorted the higher thyroid cancer rates and other health effects among nuclear survivors in the Marshall Islands; and

WHEREAS, the federal government has now threatened to cut off funds for medical care and compensation of nuclear victims in the Marshall Islands on the grounds that there is no legal basis for such payments and that no further nuclear health effects can be expected; and

WHEREAS, the Republic of the Marshall Islands currently lacks the financial and technical resources needed to remedy or combat the effects of radioactive fallout, to protect the public from further radiation exposure, to complete the further decontamination of all nuclear and military waste, or the devolution and restoration of the affected lands; now, therefore,

BE IT RESOLVED by the House of Representatives of the Twenty-third Legislature of the State of Hawaii, Regular Session of 2005, that the President of the United States and the Congress of the United States are respectfully urged to seek proper funding for medical care and compensation of nuclear victims who are residents of the Republic of the Marshall Islands, and for the development and decontamination of the affected Marshall Islands communities; and

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the federal government is further requested to immediately step up their efforts to screen the health of exposed Marshall Islands populations and in particular, all newborn infants, now and in the future, that may suffer the long-term effects of exposure to radioactive fallout caused by atomic and hydrogen bomb testing conducted by the United States; and

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the federal government is urged to finance and commission a comprehensive independent health study to conclusively determine the impact of sustained exposure to high-level and low-level radiation; provided that the scope or duration of such health studies is requested to include the likelihood of chromosome damage and the likely emergence of genetic deformities in future generations; and

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the federal government is encouraged to establish health centers in the Republic of the Marshall Islands, and to finance and provide resources necessary to sustain health care adequate to the needs of nuclear victims that are Marshall Island residents; and

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the Congress of the United States is requested to hold public hearings on the Change of Circumstances Petition both in Majuro, Republic of the Marshall Islands, and in Washington D.C., and to allow representatives of the non-governmental organizations from Enewetak, Rongelap, Utrik, and Bikini to testify; and

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that certified copies of this Resolution be transmitted to the President of the United States, through the Secretary of State, the President of the United States Senate, the Speaker of the United States House of Representatives, the members of Hawaii's congressional delegation, the Executive Director of the Aloha Medical Mission, the President of Micronesians United, the Director of Pacific Island and Asian American Ministry of the United Church of Christ, the Director of ERUB (Enewetak, Rongelap, Utrick, Bikini) Honolulu Marshallese Ministry, and the Director of the Friends Retreat Center.

Report Title:

Nuclear Victims