Study backs nuclear test veterans' claims

By RUTH HILL - The Dominion Post | Monday, 16 June 2008

http://www.stuff.co.nz/4584973a11.html

Nuclear-test veterans say the Government must finally "stop sitting on its hands" now international experts have upheld Massey University research exposing the extent of the genetic damage they suffered.

Associate Professor Al Rowland's world-first study - which showed naval veterans who were exposed to nuclear tests in the Pacific 50 years ago had 300 per cent more genetic mutations than normal - has just been published in the prestigious journal Cytogenetic and Genome Research.

Experts who reviewed the paper said the results had significant implications for nuclear test veterans in New Zealand and in Britain."Because there will be no chance to repeat the investigation in the future, it is highly desirable and, in fact, necessary to publish the paper now," one wrote. The publication is expected to pave the way for more studies on other groups, and bolster the case for a $36.5 million class action being taken against the British Government by New Zealand, British and Fijian veterans.

Roy Sefton, chairman of the New Zealand Nuclear Test Veterans Association, which commissioned the study, said he expected the Government to act now rather than wait for the outcome of the legal action. When the results first became public last year, the Government promised to respond when the study had been peer-reviewed and published. ell, now they have to stop sitting on their hands and do something."

Of the 551 Kiwi veterans involved in Operation Grapple (the code name for nine British tests carried out in the Pacific between 1957 and 1958), more than 400 are dead, mainly from cancer. Mr Sefton, who was 17 when he served in Operation Grapple, said it was criminal that governments had been able to ignore the suffering of veterans and their children for so long.

Nuclear test veterans became eligible for "war disablement pensions" only in recent years, but they still must apply on a case-by-case basis.

Their children have access to free counselling, but can only get help with medical costs if they have spina bifida, cleft lip or palate, acute myeloid leukaemia or adrenal gland cancer. Mr Sefton said someone with genetic damage of this magnitude would clearly suffer health problems "and pass junky genes on to their children and grandchildren too".

Any compensation package should be extended to other nuclear veterans, including those who served on Mururoa Atoll in the 1970s, and to serving defence personnel who might be exposed to depleted uranium. Mr Sefton said veterans were united in their cause and backed by highly respected scientists.

"We are going to fight till we get our settlement."

A preliminary court hearing will be held in London in February. The veterans' lawyer, Gordon Paine, said publication of the research was "very important in terms of the legal aspect of the case". "Publication means it can no longer be ignored." Veterans Affairs Minister Rick Barker was unavailable for comment.

However, in March he said the Government was monitoring international research and the programmes and entitlements made available to the children of nuclear test veterans by other governments.

The latest research has been eagerly received by British veterans. This year, the British Government agreed to fund an independent study into the health effects of its own veterans - as long as the Massey research was found to be credible.

Of the 22,000 British soldiers who witnessed nuclear tests in the 1950s and 1960s, only about 3000 are still alive.

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Alyn Ware

Director - The Peace Foundation Wellington Office

PO Box 24-429, Manners Street

Wellington, Aotearoa-New Zealand 6142

alyn@lcnp.org

www.peace.net.nz

Physical address:

Level 2 James Smith Building

49-55 Cuba Street, Wellington

Tel: +64 4 496 9629 Fax: +64 4 496-9599