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Remembering Nagasaki: British nuclear veterans

Speaking ahead of Monday’s 65th anniversary of the US dropping a nuclear bomb on Nagasaki, the servicemen talked about their experience of living through 20 test blasts carried out between 1952 and 1958.

Nagasaki 65 years on: British nuclear test vets push for MoD   compensation,  Metro.co.uk John Higginson – 8th August, 2010, Britain’s nuclear test veterans who are battling to secure £20million in compensation are urging the government to pay up before any more of them die.

More than 1,000 of them are pursuing a class action against the Ministry of Defence over illnesses they insist are linked to explosions carried out in Australia and the Pacific.

However, with three survivors dying a month on average, they say the time has come to settle the case now rather than through the courts.

Speaking ahead of Monday’s 65th anniversary of the US dropping a nuclear bomb on Nagasaki, the servicemen talked about their experience of living through 20 test blasts carried out between 1952 and 1958.

Unaware of the dangers of radiation, they wore nothing more than their military fatigues during the tests………………

Some veterans felt the effects soon after, with heavy nose bleeding and early cancers. For others it took years.

Cancer, skin problems and infertility have all been suffered while scientific evidence indicates veterans may also have passed on genetic damage to their children.

The survivors are seeking between £5,475 and £36,500 each in compensation.

Initially, the MoD argued the action was too late to make claims.

Then it argued cause of illnesses had to be proved, despite other countries paying compensation without the need for proof of causation………..

However, last year the High Court ruled that nuclear veterans had a right to sue the government but the MoD appealed the decision on a legal technicality.

Since making the appeal, a further 39 veterans have passed away and others continue to die at a rate of three a month.

The MoD has already spent more than £2.6million fighting the case and could spend up to £30million if it contests every case.

Nagasaki 65 years on: British nuclear test vets seek MoD compensation | Metro.co.uk

August 9, 2010 - Posted by Christina Macpherson | UK, weapons and war | antinuclear, cancer, nuclear weapons, radiation, radioactive