11 months ago
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The Nuclear Free Local Authorities have welcomed news that Peterborough City Council has passed a motion at its December meeting seeking a government apology in recognition of the suffering of Britain’s nuclear test veterans community.
The motion was authored and proposed by Councillor Katy Cole, and received overwhelming support in the council chamber.
It expresses gratitute to the veterans for their service at nuclear weapons tests in Australia, in the Pacific and finally in Nevada, which were conducted between 1952 and 1991, and notes the exposure of tens of thousands of veterans, and the supporting scientists and civilians, to radiation. In addition, the lives and territories of the Indigenous people were devastated by these tests, with island populations displaced from the homes and the Traditional lands of Indigenous people becoming profoundly contaminated.
Veterans and Indigenous people alike have suffered premature death and sickness from radiation and their off-spring have often been born with profound genetic deformaties or grievous illnesses. As the motion rightly terms it, they were ‘lab rats’ or ‘guinea pigs’, with the vast majority also having been coerced or deceived into participation.
The motion specifically highlights the continued lack of public knowledge about the tests, the slow and parsimonious issue of service medals by the government and the continued denial of access to medical records to surviving veterans or their next-of-kin.
In light of these facts, Peterborough City Council resolved to ask the political leadership to send letters to the Minister for Veterans, the Shadow Veterans minister, and the Ministry of Defence seeking a full government apology to veterans and full access to their medical records without the veterans being obliged to take legal action to do so.
The Council also agreed to encourage local schools and colleges to educate their students about the tests and their impact on military veterans and their families, and to light up in yellow the Town Hall and other public buildings in the city centre on each anniversary of the first British Nuclear Test (Operation Hurricane) on the 3rd of October, in recognition of the suffering of the nuclear test veteran community.
NFLA Nuclear Test Veterans Spokesperson, Councillor Tommy Judge said of the motion: “The Peterborough Council motion is most welcome and represents a mechanism by which Councils can exert pressure on the government to do the right thing by our nuclear test veterans and their families who continue to suffer terribly as a result of their exposure to radiation. We hope other Councils will follow Peterborough’s lead.
“Although the government has recently commissioned a medal to recognise their service, no formal apology been issued to the nuclear test veterans and their family members which recognises how they have been badly treated, ignored or marginalised over many decades. The issue of medals has been slow, even parsimonious, access to medical records continues to be denied and no compensation has been paid for suffering as other nuclear test nations have done. The NFLAs are proud to continue to stand with the nuclear test veteran community in lobbying government ministers to secure these demands.”
Councillor Judge last wrote to the Veterans Minister on these matters on 29 August, the International Day against Nuclear Tests, yet – despite a reminder – a response has yet to be received from the Minister or the Ministry of Defence.
Ends//..For more information, please contact the NFLA Secretary by email to richard.outram@manchester.gov.uk
Notes to Editors
Motion to Full Council Meeting – December 2023
Peterborough City Council notes that:
Peterborough has a proud history of residents putting their country before themselves and belonging to our armed forces. Fighting and holding peace keeping roles across the world. We need to be thankful to the veterans of the UK’s Nuclear Testing programme, carried out between 1952 and 1991 in Australia, Christmas Island, Malden Island and the Nevada Desert.
Operation Grapple was one of series of British nuclear weapons tests of early atomic bombs and hydrogen bombs carried out in 1957-1958 at Malden Island and Kiritimati (Christmas Island) in the Gilbert and Ellice Islands in the Pacific Ocean (modern Kiribati) as part of the British hydrogen bomb programme. In total 45 nuclear detonation and 600 highly toxic radiation experiments were carried out as part of the testing program across the world.
Hundreds of thousands of people were and are directly affected by the Atomic and Nuclear testing program across the world. Millions were exposed to fallout from the testing program and families suffer today from illness and deformities caused by these tests. Many are no longer alive today and it is their families that continue to suffer the consequences of the tests. Genetic damage as a result of the Nuclear Testing is conservatively estimated to last for 500 years.
The participants of the testing program were ‘lab rats’ or ‘guinea pigs’. These men were used in experiments to test the effects of Nuclear warfare, with no regard for the indigenous people, their lands or their lives. Veterans, indigenous people, scientists and civilians have all died as a consequence of the tests; yet their stories remain unheard by the general population of the world. An apology to these men is long overdue. The veterans of British Nuclear Testing have recently and with much fight on their part been awarded medals in recognition of their service. However, these medals have been sent to them via second class post, and many families are still fighting for the recognition these heroic men deserve. As of October 2023, the total number of Nuclear Test Medal applications received was 3,198 and 1,060 awards have been issued so far.
Most veterans and direct family members are getting a complete refusal from the Ministry of Defence when requesting their full medical records and the records they have received often have large chunks of their records blacked out or redacted. Some of the medical records have information that has been falsified. Imagine medical professionals trying to diagnose your medical problems or design a plan of treatment without knowing your medical history. These veterans and their families urgently need access to their full medical history including what they were exposed to or results of blood and urine tests taken during the testing program. The current veterans minister has publicly and privately stated that if these veterans and their families wish to access their full medical records, they need to sue the government. A CIC called LABRATS are currently trying to crowd fund the £100,000 and have already raised over £50,000 so that they can start the litigation process.
British Nuclear Testing is not spoken about as part of the United Kingdom’s military history. This cannot continue. By ensuring that no-one forgets the testing program, immortalising the survivors in video, podcasts and campaigning for recognition, we can ensure that the legacy of the tests continues. No-one should be a lab rat; it was a human experiment which continues to this day.
Peterborough City Council therefore resolves that:
- The Council Leader will write a letter to Minster for Veterans and the Shadow Veterans minister, lobbying the government for a full apology to the veterans of British Nuclear Testing. Acknowledging these men were used as test subjects in order to understand the effects of nuclear warfare.
- The council leader and group leaders will write a jointly signed letter to the Minister for Defence demanding full access to medical records without the need to sue the government for the British Nuclear Veterans medical history.
- The Council asks Education Officers to sign post schools and colleges to information about British Nuclear Testing and worldwide Test experiments and work with a range of organisations who can direct schools to a range of resources and firsthand accounts of what veterans and family members have experienced as a result of the testing. (One such resource is www.labratsacademy.online)
- On the anniversary of the first British Nuclear Test (Operation Hurricane) which was detonated off the Montebello Islands, Australia on the 3rd of October 1952, the Town Hall and other public buildings in Peterborough will be lit up in Yellow to thank and commemorate the veterans of British Nuclear Testing in recognition of all they have and continue to suffer as a consequence of the testing that took place.
