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Exclusive: Nuclear test veterans & kids win probe into lethal legacy – mirror.co.uk

Exclusive: Nuclear test veterans & kids win probe into lethal legacy * *By Susie Boniface, sundaymirror.co.uk 26/10/2008 – “……………………..

New Defence Minister Kevan Jones has pledged to set up a study into the legacy of illnesses suffered by the soldiers, sailors and airmen present at the tests.

He will also order officials to look into our demands for an investigation into the welfare of the veterans’ children and grandchildren, who are 10 times more likely to suffer from birth defects……………………..

Around 20,000 servicemen are thought to have seen hundreds of atomic experiments in the US, Australia and the South Pacific between 1952 and 1967 as British scientists created nuclear weapons. The men were lined up on beaches and the decks of ships, ordered to turn their backs when the bombs went off, then turned back to watch the mushroom cloud.

Some were only a few miles from the blast. Most lived near the contaminated areas for a year or more, ingesting deadly fallout particles from the air, water and food……………………Today only 3,000 are believed to have survived and say they are plagued with cancers, ulcers, blood diseases, skin problems and rare medical conditions.

Exclusive: Nuclear test veterans & kids win probe into lethal legacy – mirror.co.uk

Tags: nuclear, antinuclear, radioactive, uranium

October 27, 2008 - Posted by Christina Macpherson | weapons and war