U.S. Medical and Environmental Assistance to the Marshall Islands

• The U.S. has spent $531 million over the past 50 years for nuclear testing-related assistance and compensation in the Marshall Islands. That assistance is worth over $837 million in 2003 dollars.
• Under Compact II, the U.S. spends over $7 million per year directly on health care in the Marshall Islands. Those funds support a large portion of the Ministry of Health’s nationwide health care program. In addition, part of the $ 13.5 million in Compact funds dedicated to infrastructure will pay for health care facilities.
• In addition to Compact funding, the Department of Health and Human Services spent $6.3 million in fiscal year 2004 on a variety of disease control, early childhood development, mental health and other programs in the Marshall Islands.
• Over the years, the U.S. Congress has appropriated over $110 million for the cleanup and resettlement of Bikini Atoll alone.
• From 1977 to 1980, the United States’ Enewetak resettlement program included cleanup of affected islands and revegetation of the atoll. Enewetak environmental activities over the years have totalled $24.8 million. The Amended Compact includes at least $1.3 million for Enewetak every year until 2023.
• The U.S. and the RMI are working together to make Rongelap habitable. We stand by the commitment we made to Rongelap in the original Compact. Environmental activities have exceeded $16 million, while the Rongelap portion of the special medical program has exceeded $38 million. The Amended Compact includes an additional $5.2 million to the Rongelap Trust Fund.
• Environmental cleanup on Utrik has cost over $4 million, while the Utrik portion of the special medical program has exceeded $16 million.
• The original Compact established and provided $150 million to the Nuclear Claims Tribunal, a Marshallese body charged with deciding claims and compensation.
• A standard of care equal to that of the U.S. has been provided to the 239 Marshallese recognized by the U.S. Congress as having been exposed to fallout during the 1954 "Bravo" accident.
• That program has also included 88 additional people who continue to receive the same U.S. standard of care, at a total cost of $2.5 million per year.
• From 1974 to 2003, the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory produced 149 major, high-quality reports on environmental conditions and public health implications.
• The environmental program has established three whole-body counting facilities that can provide anyone in the affected atolls with their internal radiation levels.
  
  
  Also read the report submitted to Congress on Jan 4, 2005