The Marshall Islands are a part of the group of islands called Micronesia. They are a presidential republic that has a free association with the United States. The US provides the country with access to agencies such as the FCC and USPS, defense, and subsidies. The country’s wealth is based on agriculture, fishing and primarily the service industry. Nuclear testing was conducted on the island from 1946-1958. During this time at the Pacific Proving Grounds the US conducted testing of 67 nuclear weapons (Barker). These tests include Castle Bravo which is the largest nuclear test ever conducted by the United States with the fallout material being found as far away as Europe, India and Japan (Barker).
The bombs used in Castle Bravo were 1,200 times more powerful than the ones used in WWII (Barker). After the test was conducted the residents of Rongelap, Utrik and Rongerik Atolls were evacuated and many people began to show signs of acute radiation poisoning. Acute radiation poisoning causes people to suffer from burning eyes, diarrhea, fatigue, itchiness, sore skin, swelling and vomiting (Barker). The people were then relocated once again to medical facilities in Kwajalein for treatment. In 1952 Elugelab and island located in the Enewetak atoll was obliterated in “Ivy Mike” which was code for the detonation of the first hydrogen bomb by the United States (Barker). Due to the high amount of nuclear testing that was done on the island it was said to be “the most contaminated area in the world” by the United States Atomic Energy Commission in 1956 (Barker).
When the testing on Bikini Atoll was conducted families were relocated to the Rongerik Atoll and Kili Island (Barker). This resulted in many people nearly dying of starvation because the areas were unable to support life. In 1953 a medical study called Project 4.1 was done by the United States of individuals who had been exposed to nuclear radiation from testing done at the Bikini Atoll (Barker). This caused America to be viewed as having conducted experiments on people without their consent or knowledge and caused an international outcry (Barker). However, despite these findings and the promises to leave the area the United States continued to conducts tests at both Redwing and Hardtack. The testing subsequently caused Bikini Atoll to be declared uninhabitable because the soil and water was too contaminated to support life (Barker).
A number of Marshall Island residents returned to Bikini Atoll in 1972, ten years later French scientists found that the breadfruit, pandanus and water was still highly contaminated. The women living on the island were experiencing a high number of genetic defects, miscarriages and stillbirths (Barker). This caused the people to be evacuated yet again. This time declaring Bikini Atoll completely uninhabitable, a designation that still remains in place today. As a result of the study the United States paid Marshall Islanders over $750 million in compensation (Barker). This money was to be paid out over a period of about 15 years.
Besides the effects that the contamination has had on pregnancies. It has effected the health of Marshal Islanders in a variety of other ways. One such way is that people can no longer do the work that they used to or eat the foods that grew on the island (Barker). This means that much of their food, which is processed has been shipped from the United States and contains ingredients like additives, preservatives, and corn syrup. This along with the lack of means to make copra, has caused people to become unhealthy because they have not been able to exert themselves as they had in the past. The results being high levels of obesity and diabetes. This inability to engage in activities that would contribute to them being healthier is seen in the fact that the children are not able to climb trees because there is too much radiation in the bark. Another health issue that many islanders are suffering with because of their exposure to radiation is cancer. There are a number of people who have or know someone who has cancer that was caused by the nuclear bomb testing. There has also been an increase in suicides on the island in the past sixty years
The way to mitigate inter-cultural stress would be honesty. The United States was not honest with the inhabitants of the Marshall Islands from the beginning. They told them that by allowing them to conduct the experiments that they would be helping to save the world. The only reason that the United States wanted the weapons was to defeat the Soviet Union in the “Arms Race”. The people conducting the tests had little regard for the lives of the people living on the islands, going as far as to allow people to remain in areas of high fallout up to three days after the bomb was detonated. Later the government’s lack of concern and disregard for the lives of the Marshall Islanders was shown once again when they told the people that it was safe to return home twice subsequently evacuating them once again when it was discovered that they had lied and the land and plants were too polluted for inhabitation.
The people of the Marshall Islands are angry about what has been done to the island because it has had not only a profound effect on their health and the health of their descendants. It has also changed their way of life. They can no longer make things like copra, which was an important part of their culture. They have lost land that was passed down for generations and they have had to poison their chief. This is because in their culture the people must give the chief a gift of food from the land and the chief must eat the food, so do to the cultural beliefs of the Marshall Islanders they had to knowingly give the chief things that were poisoned and he had to eat them. Today the people living on the islands receive payments that are intended to help improve the lives of the people on the Islands. However, these payments and the other money that the United States has given the Islands does little to improve the conditions for the people living there. the reason for this is because the radiation contaminated the top layers of soil, which is the only part of the island that has the potential to grow food. This was discovered when some groups wanted to remove the first thirteen inches of soil so that they could get to clean soil underneath and found out that the soil underneath does not contain the nutrients to grow food. As a result of this the people also live in horrible poverty because in some areas they are crammed on small islands that are lined with makeshift shanties. There are streets that are lined with raw sewage which has caused there to be a number of outbreaks of cholera and dengue fever and well as a huge problem with insects.
Works Cited
Barker, Holly M. Bravo for the Marshallese: Regaining Control in a Post-Nuclear, Post-Colonial World. Belmont: Wadsworth/Thomson, 2004. Print.
