nuclear-news

Court says nuclear test soldiers can sue Britain

Court says nuclear test soldiers can sue Britain

Adelaide Now CHARLES MIRANDA in London

June 06, 2009

THE British High Court has concluded thousands of Australian service men and their families were treated as nuclear ‘guinea pigs’, giving them the right to sue the British Government.

The bombshell decision found the British Ministry of Defence did have a case to answer that it unfairly exposed servicemen from Australia, Britain, New Zealand and Fiji to atomic fallout during the series of tests in South Australia, Western Australia and off the eastern coast on atolls in the Pacific during the 1950s.

The sensational ruling was greeted with cheers from many veterans in Room 73 of the London Royal Courts of Justice where for five years 1000 of them have fought to prove they and their families had suffered because of radioactive exposure.

The case paves the way for millions of dollars in compensation to now be offered to the servicemen exposed on land, air and sea who were directed into mushroom clouds to test the effects of the weaponry on the human body.

The Australian Federal Government had stalled for years on whether to pay compensation, citing it was awaiting for a ruling to be made by the British High Court since the tests were done by the British Government.

AdelaideNow… Court says nuclear test soldiers can sue Britain

June 6, 2009 - Posted by Christina Macpherson | politics, UK | antinuclear, nuclear, nuclear costs, radiation, radioactive