“Radio-Active” Niueans
pp. 53-55 · Read in the full issue
Fail to be Impressed
From a Special Correspondent in Niue As Niue relies for its communications on shipping services which are hardly as frequent as the Auckland buses, some of the more sensational newspaper accounts of investigations into Niue’s radio-activity have only just caught up with us. But they have been worth waiting for. They brought a great deal of amusement.
rE publicity was started as a result of an announcement by Sir Ernest Marsden in Wellington in April (PIM, April, p. 133) that Niue Islanders “might provide the key to the future of mankind in the atomic age”. He said that parts of Niue Island were 20 times more radioactive than normal, and that Niue Islanders had apparently evolved under their present conditions by a process of survival of the fittest.
It was a fairly simple statement, if an interesting one, but some of the Australian newspaper observations are laughable.
The Niueans do work hard because they have to, not because “they have a yearning to work faster” than any other Polynesians. To wrest a living from their extremely rugged island, subject in late years to climatic extreme s of droughts and hurricanes, s tor hard work.
They are not giants. The average height of the Niueans is about 5 ft 3 ins., which does not make them
any taller or huskier than any other Polynesian islanders. They are no stronger than Europeans or other islanders—but have merely adapted themselves to their rather harsh local environment. And they eat about the same amount as any other Poly nesians!
On Niue, the European community certainly does not live on special food rations, nor is any food supplied f ree to them by the Government. The Administration owns a farm which grows European-type vegetables and milk, which is sold to the European population. Niueans live on taro and other greens which are not very palatable to the European tongue, There is no “special milk with extra calcium”, u
Just Fantasy
The statement that “the whites live on CO ral outcrops” is true—it could not be otherwise as the whole island is a coral outcrop! The story of the scientist who tried to grow a certain
type of vegetable and couldn’t, is pure fantasy.
What is the truth, so far as those on Niue see it? The position was put pretty well by the Minister of ; Island Territories, Mr. F. L. A. Gotz, 1 in a Press statement made not very long ago.
Mr. Gotz said he had been assured 5 by Sir Ernest that the rate of radio activity here at Alofi, where the European residents live, is low and presents no danger. Nor, he said, was there any danger to Niueans liv ing in more radio-active parts of the island, because they had built up a considerable resistance to radiation.
Mr. Gotz added:— “The radio-activity on Niue has nothing to do with atom-bomb tests but is due to daughter products of radium in the soil. These have no commercial value.
“Extensive tests carried out by Sir Ernest have revealed that kumaras and bananas grown on Niue for ex port to New Zealand are free from dangerous radiation.
“Although the Niueans have been exposed to the effects of radiation for at least 1,000 years, and perhaps 2,000 or 3,000, they are amongst the healthiest people in the South Pacific.
“The research carried out by Sir Ernest Marsden has created wide spread interest among students of genetics and workers in cancer re search. From available information it does not seem that cancer and allied diseases are more common on Niue than in places with less radio activity. . . ...
“Another interesting point is that the rate of natural increase on Niue is very high. If it were not for
emigration, the population would in crease rapidly. At the 1956 census 21 per cent, of the population was under primary school age and half was either attending primary school or not yet ready for it.”
Niue is one of the largest coral islands in the world. In some remote geological age it was an atoll with a large lagoon in the middle. It is now 200 feet above sea level and the lagoon has become a dry, saucer shaped depression. Parts of the depression are heavily covered with some of the finest hardwood forests in Polynesia.
It so happened that several years ago samples of soil from various parts of Niue were sent to the NZ Dept, of Scientific and Industrial Research for testing. It was found that parts of the old lagoon possessed a surprisingly high level of radio activity. These findings led to exten sive investigations by Sir Ernest Marsden of the extent and nature of
the radio-activity.
Taro is Radio-Active A result of those investigations was the discovery that taro, the principal item of diet for Niueans, which grows in certain parts of the old lagoon bed, possessed a high rate of radio-activity.
Last year Sir Ernest carried out research work in England on soil, bone, and teeth samples sent to him by agriculture and medical officers on Niue.
Using a scintillometer supplied by Sir Ernest, the Niue agriculture officer carried out a general survey of radio-activity on Niue last Sep tember, taking readings at 80 points on the island.
His finds were later checked by a Party from the New Zealand DSIR which visited Niue in HMNZS Endeavour.
Apparently, all that can be safely s aid from those measurements is that there is at least one locality where the background gamma activity is 20 times the average found in NZ °r the UK. The alpha activity is 500 times the NZ average.
Sir Ernest's Part Sir Ernest himself has not yet been to Niue and all his findings are based on laboratory research on the samples sont to him by Niue officers. The four USIR officers spent less than a day here. They did not visit us especially to see Niue, but they were on a cruise around New Zealand dependencies ln this area.
This has been the only scientific visit so far received.
Niue is continuing sending Sir Ernest samples that he requires, and there is likely to be a series of chromosome studies. Some impor tance to this is attached in Welling ton.
"Incomprehensible"
Meantime the fuss about Niue’s radio-activity has brought little re action from the Niueans, who naturally enough find the term rather incomprehensible.
The small European population has been advised to abstain from taro, which Sir Ernest considers the more seriously contaminated local food, and to drink more milk or milk powder. But reactions so far have been similar to those of heavy smokers when warned about lung cancer!
Most people were mildly surprised at the whole excitement about radio active Niue, both official and un official, in view of the fact that it is all based on a few observations made locally by a non-scientific staff, and on the samples forwarded to Sir Ernest by them.