Shameful treatment of nuclear test veterans

Our colleagues on the Breton news site 'Agence Bretagne Presse' reported recently on the plight of service personnel exposed to radiation as part of French military atomic testing in the past forty years.

Many Breton navy personnel were victims, some are dying of leukaemia or cancer and other diseases. In addition indigenous people in the areas adjacent to the test site were also exposed to radiation poisoning and have suffered greatly.

(voir notre article). (Article in French - for 'rough' translation click on the flag icon at foot of page).

The United Kingdom carried out similar nuclear tests in the Indian Ocean in the 1950s. Many service personnel were exposed to a health risk which at that time was unknown they to have suffered significant health problems.

So far only one group of veterans has been compensated. Eight Manxmen who served in the British armed forces and were exposed to the Indian Ocean tests have received compensation following a decision by Tynwald(the Manx parliament) earlier this year.

It is shameful that both the French and British government have failed to compensate the servicemen who have suffered as a consequence of the exposure they sustained in these ill-conceived nuclear tests.

J B Moffatt Director of Information Celtic League

15/04/08