NICK HARVEY HELPS LOCAL NUCLEAR TEST VICTIMS
November 28, 2007 10:32 AM
Ben Thomas of Instow, North Devon, a former RAF Police Sergeant says:
"Many of my friends in the Nuclear Test Veterans Association have had the misfortune of contracting various forms of cancer as a result of service on Christmas Island. I am 70 years of age and have been fighting Government indifference for twenty years."
Nick Harvey MP notes:
"For too long successive Governments have ignored the plight of veterans who were exposed to British Nuclear tests in the Pacific Ocean, on the fiftieth anniversary of those events it has taken an EU Directive to shame them into action."
Ben Thomas adds:
"Following Nick Harvey's intervention on my behalf and after three appeals to the MoD I was medically examined by a MoD Doctor at my home and as a result I have been awarded a War Pension with effect from May 2007, for three forms of skin cancer with the magical annotation on the confirmation letter that the cancers 'are attributable' to my service on Christmas Island.
"This is a great relief to myself and my family and proves that there is a case to answer for similar approval for many of my colleagues who are still awaiting `justice` for the cause. All we seek is justice from a caring government."
Derek Twigg Minister for Veterans when tackled by Nick Harvey claimed:
"Three independent reports found no general effect on participants' expectation of life or the risk of developing most cancers, though there was a small increase in the risk of some leukaemias. The outcome of these studies is reflected in the MoD's handling of claims under the War Pension and Armed Forces Compensation Schemes."
Nick Harvey concludes:
"Unfortunately, the Government has made it clear that the UK's defence activities are exempt from the EU's 96/29/Euratom Directive relating to radiation contamination monitoring. This remains a critical gap and MPs are calling for a complete overhaul of the compensation scheme so that men like Ben Thomas get the recognition they deserve."
Further Information
Between 1952 and 1967 the UK carried out atmospheric tests with nuclear weapons in the Pacific Ocean and at Maralinga, Australia, involving over 20,000 servicemen. Among these tests were the Grapple Y and Grapple Z series of six detonations at Christmas Island in the Pacific Ocean, November 1957-September 1958, which were many times more powerful than those used at Hiroshima and Nagasaki.
• Of 2,500 men surveyed in 1999 30% had died, mostly in their fifties.
• In their grandchildren spina bifida rates are more than five times the usual rate for live births in the UK.
• More than 200 skeletal abnormalities were reported.
• More than 100 veterans' children reported reproductive difficulties.
For more information on The British Nuclear Test Veterans Association see:
or contact the BNTVA's Chairman, John Lowe, 7 Bedale Drive, Whitley Bay, Tyne & Wear, NE25 8UR
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