Nuclear testing diseases 'need to come to light'
UK nuclear tests conducted in 1950s left veterans and children with congenital diseases, MPs claim
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Thursday, 23, Oct 2008 07:46
UK nuclear tests conducted in the 1950s have left veterans and their children with a variety of congenital diseases, according to a backbench Tory MP.
John Baron conducted an adjournment debate in the Commons yesterday afternoon, where he voiced concerns the government was "backsliding" on its commitment to investigate the issue.
A recent report conducted by Dr Chris Busby for the British Nuclear Tests Veterans Association (BNTVA) found higher levels of miscarriage, still birth and infant mortality among the families of those who helped conduct the tests.
"I feel the whole issue needs to be given another shove," Mr Baron told politics.co.uk.
"Other countries are moving ahead with system of redress for veterans – New Zealand and Canada for instance. In the US there's presumptive compensation, where if you have one of 20 odd cancers and you were at tests you automatically receive compensation.
"Britain's lagging behind and may even be backsliding," he said.
Activists are concerned that early assurances from the government may be about to fall by the wayside.
Mr Baron held a meeting with the prime minister on the issue, in which Gordon Brown "wanted to know particular facts and figures and then referred us to Derek Twigg", minister for veterans.
Mr Twigg was shown the New Zealand Rowlands study into the effects of the tests, and "gave the impression" that if it was peer reviewed it could be replicated in the UK.
But once it had been, signs emerged the government may be changing its mind.
"Correspondence suggests they may be reconsidering their position," Mr Baron said.
The government carried out several nuclear tests in the Pacific Ocean and at Maralinga, Australia between 1952 and 1967, involving over 20,000 servicemen.
Among these were the 'Grapple Y' and Grapple Z' detonations on Christmas island, involving weapons far more powerful than those used to on Hiroshima and Nagasaki.
Of 2,500 men surveyed in 1999, 30 per cent had died, mostly in their 50s. More than 100 veterans children reported reproductive difficulties.
Many children and grandchildren of servicemen have experienced a range of problems including holes in the heart, deafness, reproductive difficulties, missing or excess teeth, deformity and early death.