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Nuclear testing veterans fight for justice – Petersfield Today

Nuclear testing veterans fight for justice:10 September 2008
Petersfield Post (UK) By Mary Bishop Between 1952 and 1957 the United Kingdom carried out a number of atmospheric tests of nuclear weapons in the Pacific Ocean and at Maralinga, Australia, involving more than 20,000 servicemen.Tomorrow, September 11, is the 50th anniversary of the UK’s Nuclear Test Ban – but British serving men are still fighting to gain compensation from the government for cancers and other serious diseases which they claim are caused by the nuclear explosions……………………….”During the actual tests it was a bit worrying when first thing in the morning RAF and Navy personnel went off to sea for their safety while soldiers sat out on the island hoping that the bomb hit its target.” Steve stressed: “Sadly many veterans and their children suffered terrible illnesses from these tests, but after 50 years they are still being refused compensation from governments.

“Surely now, 50 years after these men, many of them national servicemen, were required to face known hazards for the sake of our national security, it is time for the government to honour its duty of care and pay out compensation.”

According to the BNTVA, a survey of 2,500 servicemen carried out in 1999 showed that 30 per cent of the men had died, mostly in their fifties.

The association said that medical evidence showed that the servicemen’s grandchildren were more than five times likely to be born with spina bifida.
More than 200 skeletal abnormalities were reported and more than 100 veterans’ children reported reproductive difficulties.

The High Court action is being supported by Sue Rabbitt Roff, a medical sociologist from Dundee University Medical School,

Nuclear testing veterans fight for justice – Petersfield Today

Tags: nuclear, antinuclear, radioactive, uranium

September 12, 2008 - Posted by Christina Macpherson | environment