This blog was inspired when I came across an article (don’t remember the name) in a random magazine while at the hospital waiting to get my ankle x-rayed. What intrigued me was that it showed a picture of an atomic bomb going off and when I opened the magazine to read the article it talked about radioactive fallout and the history of the Bikini Islands. 
A short history about the Bikini Islands is that it is a chain of remote islands around a lagoon, and was first inhabited by natives who lived peacefully off the land. During 1946 the United States military determined that these Island were a perfect fit and location for their nuclear tests and decided to move the approximate 161-197 natives to another island named Rongerik Atoll. After this 10 “Ghost Ships” which had aboard then lambs and pigs were placed near these island and Operation Crossroad commenced. These operations were a series of 23 nuclear test one of which, was a Hydrogen Bomb in 1954. The power of a Hydrogen Bomb is 1000 times more powerful than the bomb that was dropped on Hiroshima. When these tests were done, a few islanders were allowed to return to their island in 1968, but were soon evacuated by 1978 when it was found that because of the radioactivity left by the nuclear test left the island to dangerous.
Because these tests were conducted before much research had been done on radioactivity, these lead to the unsafe measures taken the U.S. military in protecting themselves and the islanders from the radioactive fallout from these tests. During many of the tests winds would change and soldiers and the relocated islanders on other islands would find debris and white ash fall on them. Immediately they would be affected by symptoms such as skin irritation, burning of the skin, and even nausea. In addition scientists and soldiers would watch these bombs go off in the distance while only wearing tinted sunglasses. Scientists and researchers were so uninformed that I found a statement online of a scientist who had at one point found a radioactive rock and put it in his pocket as a keepsake. Unsafe and uninformed of the dangers of radioactivity and its relation to cancer would ultimately lead to a large case of thyroid and other such cancers in soldiers, scientists, and sadly islanders who participated/were part of these tests.To add insult of injury, the Bikini Island to this day is still radioactive. There are many arguments over “safe” levels of radioactivity, but it can be safely said that the radioactivity on these island is much higher then the average. The island is now plagued with radioactive cesium (137Cs) and strontium (90Sr) levels in the water and in the soil. These chemicals have accumulated over the years so that and produce eaten from the island in large amounts could lead to a much higher risk of cancer.
The worldwide average backgroung dose of radiation for a human being is about 2.4 millisievets (mSv) per year. This is natural radiation from many various sources such as the sun. Now that people are so much more aware of the harm of radiation should tests such as these still be permitted, and how/or even should people they to limit the amount of radiation that they are exposed to each day?
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Sources:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Background_radiation
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Operation_Crossroads
http://highschoolbioethics.georgetown.edu/units/cases/unit3_3.html
http://www.worldofdiving.com/html/bikinihistory.html
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bikini_Atoll
