From: rich@pencil.cs.missouri.edu (Rich Winkel)
Subject: Jellyfish Babies: A History of U.S. Intervention in Micronesia
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Date: Wed, 15 Apr 1992 09:40:17 GMT

From: PENN@MITLNS.MIT.EDU (steve penn 26-567, 253-1521 Remember Our Humanity; Science is Not Neutral; MIT War Research Kills.)

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Jellyfish Babies: A History of U.S. Intervention in Micronesia

Catherine Beacham, ASA News

	Imagine a tortured land where children are born who will 
never recognize their parents. They just lie there with grotesque 
deformities and do not speak. Imagine a land where adults die 
painfully from thyroid tumors, stomach cancers and leukemia.
	It is a place of immeasurable misery where women suffer 
stillbirths and miscarriages while others give birth to babies that 
look like blobs of jelly.
	These jellyfish babies have no eyes, no heads and do not 
resemble human beings at all. They are ugly, twisted things that 
breathe for only a few hours. After death, they are buried right 
away. Mothers are not shown their mutilated bodies; it would be too 
inhumane.
	This specter of horror is the agonizing reality for the people of 
Micronesia, an area contaminated by radiation from United States' 
postwar nuclear testing.
	Though American officials have long denied any link between 
their bombs and the alarming increase in health problems among 
Micronesians, they are yet to offer a satisfactory explanation why 
hundreds of jellyfish babies are born to Micronesian mothers.
	Over the past decade, Micronesians have repeatedly asked the 
world "Why haven't you known?" But ask they still do, for despite 
years of international campaigning, few people are aware of the 
wretchedness that Micronesians have endured. It is a sad story, one 
that does not improve with the telling.

	In the light of the recent controversy over US plans to dump 
lethal chemical weapons in Micronesia's Johnston Atoll--it is perhaps 
an appropriate time to reflect on the costs of American paternalism 
through the tragic experience of the Micronesians. At the very least, 
it should serve as a disturbing reminder to others about what can 
happen when people trade defense for dollars.
	Micronesia is a large island grouping in the Pacific Ocean, 
located east of the Philippines. Its population is around 150,000. It's 
2,100 islands and coral atolls cover an area of approximately 3 
million square miles--more than the entire continental US--yet its 
land mass totals only 700 square miles.

Foreign Invaders
	In many ways, Micronesia's history resembles that of other 
Third World countries, its past marked by the bloody and ruthless 
exploitation of colonial powers. Successive foreign invaders have 
attempted to strip the Micronesians of their language, land and 
culture; yet such efforts have only strengthened Micronesian resolve 
and desire for freedom. For hundreds of years the islands of 
Micronesia were generally isolated from outside contact, but that era 
quickly disappeared when the Europeans began exploring the Pacific.
	The Spanish were the first to arrive in the 16th century. During 
the early years of the occupation, Spain was too preoccupied with 
more profitable conquests in the Americas and the Philippines to 
devote much attention to these unrewarding little islands. 
	Nevertheless, Micronesians suffered greatly from initial 
European contact as diseases like influenza, smallpox, leprosy and 
syphilis ravaged the population.
	The most brutal period of Spanish imperialism dates from the 
mid-1600's. Missionaries, aided by soldiers, began to christianize the 
islands' inhabitants. The natives resisted at an enormous cost.
	For example, in less than 100 years, the population of the 
Marianas was reduced from almost 100,000 to roughly 1,600. After a 
century of massacre and plunder, subjugation was complete; more 
than 90 percent of the remaining inhabitants had embraced 
Catholicism.
	Following the Spanish-American War, the former colonizer 
managed to extract profit from defeat. With the exception of the new 
American Guam, Spain sold most of the Marianas and the Carolines to 
Germany for $6 million. While the Spanish had concentrated on 
converting the local inhabitants to Christianity, the Germans were 
intent on developing a lucrative trade in corpa. Coconut palms were 
planted extensively throughout the Marshallese, and their other 
newly-acquired territories.
	Natives provided a source of vital slave labor. The corpa trade 
flourished, and the traditional subsistence economy was undermined. 
More missionaries arrived, this time preaching the virtues of 
Protestantism.
	German control ended abruptly with the outbreak of World 
War I. Under a secret pact with Britain, Japan seized all German 
territories north of the equator. The Versailles Treaty subsequently 
awarded Japan formal control over Micronesia which it administered 
by mandate arrangements set down by the League of Nations.
	The Japanese exploited the islands' resources more ruthlessly 
than the Germans. Captured lands were transformed into pineapple 
and sugar plantations. Micronesia also proved to be a rich supplier of 
phosphate and bauxite as well as alcohol and corpa. Another religion 
was introduced, Buddhism.

A Trust Betrayed
	The United States eventually gained control of the island 
during the fierce Pacific campaign of World War II which completely 
destroyed the thriving Japanese established economy. By 1946, most 
Japanese have been repatriated, and in the following year, 
Micronesia was designated a United Nations Strategic Trust Territory.
	The United States was assigned administrative jurisdiction over 
the region which it later subdivided into four arbitrary political 
sectors--the Republic of the Marshall Islands, the Federated States of 
Micronesia, the Northern Marianas and the Republic of Belau, more 
commonly known as Palau.
	According to Article 76 of the United Nations trusteeship 
charter, the US was obliged to further international peace and 
security, protect the islanders' physical well-being, promote their 
social and economic advancement, and aid in their progressive 
development towards self-government or independence. It proved a 
trust betrayed.
	Unfortunately for the Micronesians, the terms of the 
trusteeship also allowed the Americans very wide latitude. The US 
had the designated right to use the lands infrastructure, facilities and 
territory in any way it desired without ever needing to consult the 
local people.
	Far from fulfilling its obligations, the US chose Micronesia as a 
site to develop its nuclear technology, and as a base to expand its 
strategic presence and military capabilities throughout the Pacific 
region.
	As a direct consequence of US involvement, the Micronesians 
have suffered more from the postwar nuclear age than any other 
people. Rather than a case of "benign neglect," as some would argue--
it has been an active and sustained violation of human rights.
	In 1946, well before the US assumed formal control, Bikini 
Atoll in the Marshallese had already been selected as a staging 
ground for Operation Crossroads, the initial series of nuclear tests 
held in July of that year.
	Only when the first of 42,000 military and scientific personnel 
began arriving did the US governor observe protocol and seek 
consent from the paramount chief to relocate Bikini's 167 
inhabitants. "We are testing these bombs," lied the governors, "for 
the good of mankind and to end all wars."
	The Chief understood little English but knew of the word 
"mankind" from the Bible. "If it is in the name of God," he replied,"I 
am willing to let my people go."
	The local inhabitants were transferred to Rongerik, an island 
with few natural resources 125 miles east of  Bikini. They spent a 
year close to starvation on this sandbar all the while expecting to go 
home.

Nuclear Nomads
	On March 1, 1954, the US exploded a hydrogen bomb on Bikini. 
Code-named Bravo and over 1,000 times more powerful than the 
Hiroshima bomb, it spread radioactive fallout  across the northern 
Marsall islands reaching as far as the Marianas, nearly 3,000 miles to 
the west.
	Fallout also drifted eastward, contaminating several hundred 
Marshallese people on Rongelap and Utirik Atolls. Shock waves were 
felt throughout the island chain. Water samples taken by Japanese 
scientists at a distance of 312 miles from Bikini revealed 
contamination at 130 times above normal levels.
	Unable to go back to their homeland, the dislocated Bikinians 
became the first of Micronesia's nuclear nomads. In 1948, they were 
moved from Rongerik to the American base in Kwajalein Atoll before 
being settled in Kili Island, 425 miles south of Bikini.
	More than a decade passed before President Johnson declared 
the island safe for re-inhabitation. Gradually the original inhabitants 
began to return home. 
	By the mid-'70s, follow-up medical examinations showed an 
11-fold increase in the body levels of cesium in most Bikinians while 
additional tests found radiation in the surrounding waters and soil 
still far exceeded acceptable limits. In spite of these results, the 
inhabitants were not re-evacuated for another three years.
	Similar instances involving victims on nearby islands were 
repeated with disturbing frequency throughout the entire duration 
of US postwar tests, which continued long after the ban on 
atmospheric testing in 1958.
	For 30 years, the truth behind these shameful acts of omission 
was concealed until the release of an official US report in the mid-
'80s confirming the suspicions of many: that the Micronesians had 
been deliberately exposed in order to help further badly needed 
scientific knowledge about the effects of radiation on the human 
body. Sadly, the Micronesians and their homelands are still being 
used as a source of medical data gathering.
	The people of Rongelap and Utirik fared much worse than the 
hapless Bikinians. Though US military and scientific personnel were 
well aware of prevailing wind patterns and that those islands were 
in danger of contamination, the local inhabitants were not evacuated 
until two days after testing commenced.

Poisoned Water
	Lijon Eknilang from Rongelap was seven years old when Bravo 
was dropped. She has haunting recollections of children playing in 
the fallout, and drinking poisoned water.
	"It was white and to us kids we thought it was soda powder. 
The kids were having fun but later on everyone was sick and we 
couldn't do anything...the water was changing color but we drank it 
anyway because we were very thirsty.
	Late in the afternoon...I would throw up and I had a bad 
headache. The other people on the islands experienced the same 
problems, our eyes itched terribly and towards the evening, our skin 
began to burn. I remember we ate some fish and drank some coconut 
after the fallout covered the island," she said.
	Still dressed in contaminated clothing, the people on Rongelap 
and Utirik were eventually transferred to Kwajalein for medical 
checks. Due to a shortage of landing craft many of the sick and 
elderly had no other alternative but to swim to their rescue ship. 
Once on board, families with as many as ten children were given just 
one blanket to share.
	Following three months of medical observation, those from 
Utirik were allowed to return to their contaminated home while the 
Rongelapese were relocated to Majuro in the Marshall group of 
islands. The US Atomic Energy Commission declared Rongelap safe 
for rehabitation in 1957, and the first illnessess appeared soon 
thereafter.
	Lijon Eknilang's family history is typical of most Rongelaps and 
Utiriks. Lijon's father, who was fishing at the time of the first test, 
never returned home. In the early 1960s, her grandmother died of 
thyroid and stomach cancer. One cousin died in 1960 from a 
cancerous tumor, and another died in 1972 from leukemia. In 1980, 
two of her sisters underwent surgery for thyroid cancers.
	Lijon herself had a thyroid tumor removed in 1978; she has 
also suffered seven miscarriages and stillbirths which have included 
jellyfish babies.
	US response has been to silence the Rongalapese, and as much 
as possible, to stop any report from filtering out. Although the US 
Department of Energy (DOE) sends regular inspection teams, these 
only visit the two islands that the US recognizes as affected from 
fallout by Bravo--Rongelap and Utirik--and even then, they only 
check people alive at the time of testing (a means of avoiding 
expensive compensation claims relating to genetic abnormalities on 
children).
	When suspected tumors are diagnosed, islanders are taken to 
the US, Hawaii or Guam for surgery, all the while under very close 
supervision by DOE officials. Victims are not permitted to see their 
medical records.

Environmental Damage
	Many other islands were also affected by US testing. Aside 
from experiments in Bikini, a second series of 43 bombs were 
exploded in neighboring Eniwetok Atoll. These caused varying 
degrees of contamination of most islands within a 10-mile radius of 
Eniwetok. Five entire islands in this atoll were actually vaporized.
	Unlike other nuclear nomads, the Eniwetok islanders were able 
to return home on a permanent basis in 1982, following a costly yet 
half-hearted $200 million effort by the US to clean up its waste.
	Nuclear debris was collected and then dumped into a concrete 
crater built on Runit, a tiny island located in Eniwetok Atoll. It is off-
limits, forever. A few years ago the dome cracked and began leaking 
into Runit Lagoon. Poisoned tidal currents have since washed the 
shores of several inhabited islands less than four miles away. US 
officials did not bother to order repairs, explaining that the lagoon 
under threat was already radioactive.
	The insular particularities of Micronesia means that the full 
extent of environmental damage due to radiation will probably never 
be known, The US government has never bothered to conduct a 
comprehensive epidemiological study of the region.
	Over many years, the people of Rongelap watched helplessly as 
relatives died from mysterious tumors and as babies were born with 
grossly disfigured limbs. Finally in 1978 they petitioned the Marshall 
Islands government and US authorities to help them  relocate. 
Assistance was refused. Seven years later, aided by Greenpeace, the 
people of Rongelap fled their homeland.
	The original population of Rongelap is now scattered among 
three islands in Kwajalein Atoll--Mejato, Majuro and Ebeye. The 350 
people on Mejato are extremely dependent on Rongelaps living 
elsewhere. Just a mile long, this coral island has barely an acre of soil 
on which to grow crops.
	Lacking sufficient coconuts and fish to sustain the population, 
supplies must be brought in from Ebeye twice a month--a journey 
which takes 11 hours and costs a considerable amount of money. 
While US authorities promised regular deliveries, invariably only one 
week's rations arrived every three months.
	The situation on Ebeye is no better. Known locally as "the slum 
of the Pacific," 8,500 people exist in overcrowded shacks on 78 acres. 
The majority of its inhabitants were relocated there after the US 
Army decided in 1959 to take over parts of Kwajalein, the world's 
largest atoll, as a range for testing Intercontinental Ballistic Missiles 
(ICBMs).
	The inhabitants of Ebeye survive on canned foods, rice and 
bread. The disruption of their traditional diet has resulted in 
widespread malnutrition among children. As reported by successive 
UN Trusteeship Council missions, housing and basic services are sub-
standard, there are no job opportunities, and medical facilities consist 
of one small dilapidated, understaffed and under-equipped hospital.
	The history of US policy and attitude towards Micronesia was 
bluntly summed up by Secretary of State Henry Kissinger in 1969. 
Asked to comment on the impact of American nuclear tests on the 
region he replied, "There's only 90,000 people out there! Who gives a 
damn?"

Nuclear Colonialism
	More than any people across the globe, the Micronesians have 
been expendable victims of US nuclear colonialism. Aside from 
experimental testing on Bikini and Eniwetok, Kwajalein Atoll has 
served as a site for virtually every generation of long-range missiles 
in America's strategic arsenal.
	It has also been crucial in the development of ballistic missile 
defense systems as well as early warning and anti-satellite 
operations, and is still used as a bull's-eye for missiles launched from 
Vandenberg Airforce Base in California.
	Under growing pressure from the UN to end the trusteeships, 
the US began negotiating new political agreements with the four 
areas in the late '60s. While the Northern Marianas accepted the 
original US offer of commonwealth status, the others continued 
negotiations until in 1975 when they settled upon a renewable 
Compact of Free Association (CFA).
	As one writer has observed, the CFA is a prime example of 
"heads we win, tails you lose." Its terms vary for each of the three 
sectors, but essentially it ensures the US future control over the 
region's military and foreign affairs in exchange for economic aid and 
limited autonomy.
	Of the tree remaining sectors, only Belau has refused to accept 
the compact which conflicts with a nuclear-free clause in its 1979 
constitution banning the storage, transport and testing of nuclear 
materials on Belau island and waters. Approved by 92% of the 
electorate at the time of its adoption, it is the world's first nuclear-
free constitution, and requires a massive 75% vote to ratify any 
change in the anti-nuclear provision.
	For ten years now, the US has exerted considerable financial 
and political leverage in trying to resolve this impasse with Belau. 
The compact has undergone several revisions. Vast amounts of US 
dollars have been spent on its promotion. Local politicians have been 
courted by State Department officials, and President Remeliik of 
Belau--an anti-nuclear president, was assassinated in 1985 under 
suspicious circumstances.
	Repeated referenda have been forced on the Belauan people. 
Yet in spite of all the money, all the pressure and all the 
unscrupulous tactics, the US has still not been able to produce a 
favorable outcome. In February 1990, voters went to the polls for an 
astounding seventh time, again rejecting the CFA and upholding their 
constitutional sovereignty.
	It can be safely assumed that the US will not cease in its 
attempts to protect its defense and foreign policy interests. These 
efforts however, are under increasing challenge, not just from the 
people of Belau, but many other anti-nuclear activists across 
Micronesia who oppose their governments' acquiescence to the CFA. 
Indeed, growing anti-nuclear sentiments throughout the entire 
Pacific have caused much consternation in Washington circles.
	American officials frankly admit that such liberation 
movements pose "the biggest potential disruption to US relations in 
the region." In response, a climate is being fostered for the 
destabilization of any government or group that resists US security 
imparitives--as already demonstrated by events in Vanuatu and Fiji.
	Micronesia is just one of many regions in the Pacific marred by 
the effects of brutal colonialism, but its story is sadder than most.
	As one writer has aptly stated, "Over the past 40 years the 
Micronesians have been helpless victims--US military human guinea 
pigs--on whose persons and on whose soils, America's nuclear 
technologies could be tested while the United Nations and the world 
looked the other way."
	This is the tragic, little-known reality of US "benign neglect."

ASA News is published by the Asian Students Association and they 
can be reached at 511 Nathan Road 1/F, Kowloon, Hong Kong; (852) 
388-0515.

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