From: PATBNAAV@aol.com
Date: Sat, 23 Mar 2002 19:23:48 EST
Subject: Creation of Paris International Network on Nuclear Tests
To: rucon1@juno.com, akatvet@gci.net, berniecl@swbell.net,
pdxavets@aracnet.com
Dear Friends -
I have been requested by many to report on my invited trip to Paris to
attend an international meeting of atomic veterans from French Polynesia,
Great Britain, New Zealand, Fiji, France, and the United States. My purpose
in this was to report to the representatives of those countries and others,
the legislative role our government has taken with regard to our atomic
veterans.
x x x x x
My formal speech presented to the French Senate on 19 January 2002 was
forwarded to you and the board before I left for France. The following are
bits and pieces of informal speeches and conversations with members of our
newly-formed "Paris International Network on Nuclear Tests." During the last
day of our meeting. I again spoke before the French Assembly. Members of our
newly-formed organization were very vocal in some of our private meetings,
especially the Polynesian witnesses, members of the Moruroa e tatou
Association (Moruroa and us) and of the French Nuclear Tests Veterans
Association (AVEN). They spoke of the numerous health problems met by those
who participated in the French nuclear tests carried out both in the Sahara
Desert and in French Polynesia. They spoke also of their concern for the
"forgotten" populations living downwind of the atmospheric tests' fallouts in
the Tuamotu-Gambier Islands and in the Sahara Desert. Other guest speakers
came from Australia, New Zealand, Great Britain and Fiji.
At the end of the conference representatives of associations of French
Polynesia, United States, Great Britain, New Zealand, Fiji and France met
under the chairmanship of Mrs. Lyn Allison, Australian senator who came to
Paris with the sole purpose of supporting their action. We decided on the
creation of the "Paris International Network on Nuclear Tests." A compendium
of all the speeches will be translated and forwarded to all our members.
This will take some time and that is why I haven't presented more information
sooner.
xxxxxxx
Today, no one doubts that nuclear tests have had important
consequences on the health of veterans, of personnel engaged in the
experiments, former test site workers and civilians working in plants
manufacturing nuclear weapons. Civilians living in areas exposed to fallout
from the tests and their children, ingest the material deposited on the
ground as food for cattle; children drink the milk; we eat the meat, and so
it goes down the food chain. It is unlikely that anyone living in the world
during that Cold War period was unaffected in some way, whether it be
personally or by birth defects of offspring. It never goes away. We are
still being exposed from long-lived radionuclides such as alpha emitters.
The United States has been held up as a paragon of virtue in that it
seems to others from various nuclear nations to be generous in its tretment
of the victims of radiation exposure. I pointed out to the audience that
millions of dollars have been spent on studies, dose reconstructions, and
denials of veterans' claims. The bottom line, at least for the veterans at
the present time, is fewer that 500 claims awarded by the Department of
Veterans Affairs at a cost of close to a billion dollars to the contractors
performing the so-called dose reconstructions.
Why is this? The richest country in the world cannot treat their
veterans with the respect and honor they deserve. It's quite simple really,
when you consider that the burden of proof is upon the veteran or his
survivor to "prove" his attendance at a radiation event and to "prove" his
illness is caused by his radiation exposure. When the veteran cannot obtain
his medical and service record from his branch of service he is told, "Your
file has been lost, shredded, or burned in the St. Louis fire in 1973."
This, of course is in addition to classified documents hidden away in
archives scattered all over the country which could prove his attendance.
And then we have the vows of silence inflicted upon the veterans with threats
of courts martial if they spoke of their exposure to radiation from nuclear
tests. This vow was only lifted by former Secretary of Defense, William
Perry about 10 years ago.
In spite of this, the picture began to change when in 1985 Congress
passed a law allowing compensation to atomic veterans if they could prove
all the provisions outlined above. That law required the veteran to prove he
had a radiation dose in excess of 5 Rem, which of course, the contractor for
the Defense Department made certain he did not receive. As a consequence few
veterans benefited from that law, Public Law 98-542. The veterans raised
such a hue and cry Congress finally enacted Public Law 100-321 in 1988 which
would presume he had one of the 13 cancers outlined in that law. Several
more cancers have been added to the "presumptive" law and in a Congressional
hearing in 1998, testimony was presented from the Department of Veterans
Affairs of the "fewer than 500" total awards. We do not have a current
figure.
Since 1998 more and more civilians have been clamoring for benefits,
and by this time, and during the Clinton Administration, an Advisory
Committee on Radiation Experiments was formed. Websites were established, and
more and more people became educated about their possible exposures to
radiation. At that time our Secretary of Energy, Hazel O'Leary, began the
process of declassifying formerly secret documents which allowed our atomic
veterans more information about their exposures to their particular tests so
they could "prove" attendance. However, unfortunately, at this time a number
of formerly declassified documents are now being reclassified.
You have asked me to appear here to explain why America seems to be
the only country allowing benefits to its citizens for radiation exposure.
It was thought perhaps France would emulate our generosity and also pass laws
to benefit its atomic veterans and to finally acknowledge that they exist.
Unfortunately my report wasn't as positive as you would wish. However, I do
feel we have broken the ground, so to speak, and that perhaps France will now
acknowledge its role in your problems and correct their past mistakes.
Patricia Broudy, National Legislative Director
National Association of Atomic Veterans
PAT BROUDY
NAAV National Legislative Director