69
HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES             H.R. NO.              
TWENTIETH LEGISLATURE, 2000                                
STATE OF HAWAII                                            
                                                             
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                     HOUSE  RESOLUTION
  REQUESTING HAWAII'S CONGRESSIONAL DELEGATION TO INTRODUCE
    APPROPRIATE MEASURES IN THE UNITED STATES CONGRESS CALLING
    FOR AN APOLOGY TO THE PEOPLE OF THE REPUBLIC OF THE
    MARSHALL ISLANDS FOR INJURIES SUSTAINED BY MARSHALL
    ISLANDERS AS A RESULT OF UNITED STATES NUCLEAR TESTING,
    AND INCREASED FUNDING IN THE RENEGOTIATED COMPACT OF FREE
    ASSOCIATION AS JUST COMPENSATION FOR NUCLEAR-RELATED
    INJURIES AND DEATHS AND EXPANDED MEDICAL CARE FOR AFFECTED
    MARSHALL ISLANDERS.


 1        WHEREAS, the government of the Republic of the Marshall
 2   Islands has indicated that new information on the health of its
 3   people exposed to radiation from atomic and nuclear testing in
 4   the Marshalls requires more just compensation and expansion of
 5   medical care than the $150,000,000 trust fund provided in the
 6   Compact of Free Association; and
 7   
 8        WHEREAS, evidence from recently declassified United States
 9   government reports and studies shows that many more Marshall
10   Islanders were exposed to nuclear fallout from the United
11   States atomic and nuclear tests than American negotiators
12   admitted when the compensation package in the Compact was
13   negotiated in the early 1980s; and
14   
15        WHEREAS, many questions are arising about the accuracy of
16   medical research performed by United States government
17   laboratories on Marshall Islanders who were exposed to fallout
18   from atomic and nuclear testing; and
19   
20        WHEREAS, although the United States government provided
21   full compensation to American citizens living downwind of the
22   Nevada Test Site, Marshall Islanders have not received more
23   than sixty-one per cent of their total awards because the
24   compensation level is inadequate; and
25   
26        WHEREAS, fully one-third of the 1,574 Marshall Islands
27   recipients of nuclear test awards have died without receiving
28   full compensation; and
29   
30        WHEREAS, the United States government provided full
31   compensation to American citizens living in a significantly
32   larger area compared to the Marshall Islands, despite the fact
33   that the total tonnage of United States tests in the Marshall
34   islands was almost one hundred times greater than the yield of
35   tests at the Nevada test site; and
36   

 
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                                  H.R. NO.              
                                                        
                                                        

 
 1        WHEREAS, documents now show that the people of Ailuk and
 2   other nearby islands were exposed to dangerous amounts of
 3   radiation, yet purposely were not evacuated; and
 4   
 5        WHEREAS, Marshall Islanders are increasingly becoming
 6   aware that islanders were not evacuated despite information
 7   that prevailing wind would blow fallout over a number of
 8   inhabited islands and that they were likely being used as
 9   "guinea pigs" in radiation studies; and
10   
11        WHEREAS, United States government representatives deceived
12   the people of Bikini Atoll by telling them that their island
13   would be used "for the benefit of mankind"; and
14   
15        WHEREAS, the March 1, 1954, "Bravo" hydrogen bomb test at
16   Bikini Atoll was detonated despite weather reports the previous
17   day that winds were blowing to the east toward the inhabited
18   atolls of Rongelap, Utrik, Ailuk, and others; and
19   
20        WHEREAS, a 1985-1989 health survey in the Marshall Islands
21   revealed cancer rates two to thirty times higher among Marshall
22   Islanders than in the United States; and
23   
24        WHEREAS, a nationwide survey of thyroid problems in the
25   Marshall Islands in the mid-1990's by doctors from Tohoku
26   University in Japan confirmed a high rate of thyroid disorders
27   among Marshall Islanders; and
28   
29        WHEREAS, the economic provisions of the Compact of Free
30   Association implemented in 1986 will expire in 2001 and are up
31   for renegotiation in 1999; and
32   
33        WHEREAS, the United States government has not yet
34   apologized to the Marshallese people for the death of
35   Marshallese citizens and for the damage done to their homeland
36   and people; and
37   
38        WHEREAS, there are many Marshall Islanders living in
39   Hawaii and other western states; and
40   
41        WHEREAS, the $150,000,000 trust fund provided in the
42   Compact of Free Association with the Marshall Islands is
43   woefully inadequate and not just compensation for the health
44   injuries and deaths caused by United States nuclear testing to
45   the population and the loss of their atolls because of
46   radiation contamination since 1946; and
47   

 
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                                  H.R. NO.              
                                                        
                                                        

 
 1        WHEREAS, United States funding for medical surveillance
 2   and treatment programs is inadequate to meet the needs of the
 3   exposed population in the Marshall Islands; now, therefore,
 4   
 5        BE IT RESOLVED by the House of Representatives of the
 6   Twentieth Legislature of the State of Hawaii, Regular Session
 7   of 2000, that Hawaii's congressional delegation is requested to
 8   introduce appropriate measures in the United States Congress
 9   calling for:
10   
11        (1)  An official apology from the President of the United
12             States to the people of the Republic of the Marshall
13             Islands for injuries sustained by Marshall Islanders
14             as a result of United States nuclear testing; and
15   
16        (2)  Increased funding to the Republic of the Marshall
17             Islands in the renegotiated Compact of Free
18             Association as just compensation for nuclear-related
19             injuries and deaths and for expanded medical care for
20             affected Marshall Islanders;
21   
22   and
23   
24        BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that certified copies of this
25   Resolution be transmitted to the President of the United
26   States, the President of the Republic of the Marshall Islands,
27   the United States Secretary of Energy, the United States
28   Secretary of Defense, the United States Secretary of State, the
29   United States Attorney General, the Governor of the State of
30   Hawaii, Hawaii's congressional delegation, and the Marshall
31   Islands Embassy Office in Washington, District of Columbia.
32 
33 
34 
35                           OFFERED BY: ___________________________