Life under a cloud after nuclear tests – national | Stuff.co.nz

Life under a cloud after nuclear tests

BY LEE UMBERS – Sunday News

Last updated 05:00 14/06/2009

“………………………………….He was one of the New Zealand sailors watching a nuclear mushroom cloud from the front of their frigate.Bill isn’t interested in any compensation, which he would give to charity anyway. “I just want someone to stand up and agree that, `Yes, we did send you there (to the testing sites) as guinea pigs.”‘…………………. he began “getting very suspicious” about the after-effects of Operation Grapple when mates from HMNZS Pukaki began having children with severe health problems.

“Spina bifida, different sorts of cancers, heart defects in new-born babies.”……………………..I’ve got melanomas on my back and I’m just waiting to go back into hospital to have a kidney operation,” saysBill an original member of the New Zealand Nuclear Test Veterans Association.

He feels betrayed by both Britain and by New Zealand. “They obviously didn’t know, they just said (to the British) , ‘Yeah, you can have these fellas’. But they didn’t take much responsibility …”

Life under a cloud after nuclear tests – national | Stuff.co.nz

June 15, 2009 - Posted by Christina Macpherson | Uncategorized