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North East families fight for nuclear test compensation

North East families fight for nuclear test compensation Chronicle Live Jan 20 2009 By Paul JamesThe Ministry of Defence will tomorrow begin a legal bid to derail High Court compensation claims by 1,000 nuclear test veterans before they have even begun.The claims relate to bomb testing in mainland Australia and its island territories by the Ministry of Defence at the height of the Cold War in the 1950s.Veterans from all parts of the country and who served in all three services, the Army, Royal Navy and Air Force, as well as New Zealand and Fijian claimants, are involved in the landmark compensation case.Around 20 nuclear explosions in mainland Australia, the Montebello islands off the west Australian coast and on Christmas Island, an Australian territory in the Indian Ocean, form the centre of the claim.Lawyers say the veterans involved suffered personal injuries of all types, ranging from minor injuries and skin conditions to cancers of the thyroid, liver, intestine and lungs and even death.

It is estimated that the case could cost the MOD hundreds of millions of pounds in damages payouts if it is successful.

But tomorrow MOD lawyers will attempt to halt the claim on the basis that the events concerned happened too long ago to be the subject of a compensation claim now, using arguments under the Limitation Act 1980……………………….

…………Douglas Hern, litigation secretary for the British Nuclear Test Veterans Association, claimed he and his comrades had been used as “guinea pigs” by the military……………………”There are thousands of children that have been affected and the Government does not want to know,” he said.

“What happened to our families is going to be published and they are not going to get away with it.”

The hearing to assess whether the claims are barred by the Limitation Act is due to begin tomorrow and last for three weeks.

North East families fight for nuclear test compensation – ChronicleLive

January 21, 2009 - Posted by Christina Macpherson | politics