From: PATBNAAV@aol.com
Date: Fri, 15 Jan 1999
To: beclark@sprynet.com
pdxavets@aracnet.com
AtomVet@aol.com
Subject: British/Australian and some American atomic veterans
Today I received an email from Brookhaven National Labs as follows:
Inquiry into N-tests cancer link
Date: 1/11/99
By GEESCHE JACOSSEN and AAP
The Federal [British] Government is launching a new investigation into
Britain's atomic tests in Australia, focusing on a Scottish study which found
that a rare cancer occurs 10 times more often among war veterans who witnessed
the blasts.
A spokesman for the Minister for Veteran's Affairs, Mr. Scott, said the
Government would soon name an eminent epidemiologist to examine the health
effects on Australian servicemen who were involved in the nuclear tests in the
1950s.
A study at Dundee University found that a bone marrow cancer, multiple
myeloma, occurred 10 times more often among veterans of the tests than in the
rest of the population.
The British Government has announced that it will also investigate the claims.
More than 20,000 servicemen were exposed to radiation when Britain exploded
atomic and hydrogen bombs in Australia and the Pacific in the 1950s.
A spokesman for the Atomic Survivors Association, Mr. John Hutton, said
yesterday that it was "about time" the Australian Government looked at the
British results, but he remained skeptical that it would give veterans
financial help.
Ex-servicemen who had been involved in nuclear testing were classified in such
a way that they could not receive a pension, he said. And if they took court
action, it was up to them to prove the link beaten their disease and the
exposure to radiation.
About 3,000 to 4,000 of the servicemen were probably still alive, but their
average age was 81, Mr. Hutton said. "All [the Government] have ever done is
wait for us all to die."
Mr. Scott's spokesman said the review would investigate the Scottish findings
with reference to the Australian servicemen involved. It would be completed
"in the medium term" and the Government had established a working party to
oversee the inquiry.
The Opposition spokesman on veterans' affairs, Senator Chris Schacht, said the
Government "should not prejudge the matter." The British Ministry of Defense
agreed to the investigation after reports about the most recent findings from
the Scottish study, which was first published in 1997.
A Dundee University researcher, Ms. Sue Rabbitt Roff, had called for the
inquiry after claiming to have found 45 victims of multiple myeloma, 32 of
whom have died, among 2,000 test veterans.
Professor Deborah Saltman of the University of Sydney said the cancer
accounted for about 1 percent of all malignant cancers. It punched small
holes into the bones, making them brittle.
The Ministry of Defense and the National Radiological Protection Board, which
will carry out the British investigation, have previously disputed links
between the disease and the 46 atomic bombs exploded by Britain around
Australia and Christmas Island between 1952 and 1962.
Spokesman for the Ministry of Defense said the investigation would be carried
out to reassure people that the disease was not linked to the tests.
If you are aware of any Americans involved in the Christmas Islands tests
please advise them to contact the VA and file a claim for VA benefits. I know
of one who has done that and received benefits, although benefits were paid on
the basis of Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD). Quite frankly, I have
advised some of our guys to file for that disorder and they have won benefits.
Anyone who witnesses the detonation of an atomic bomb and then lives with the
fear of developing radiation-related diseases, and worries about his
offspring's health, must certainly be a candidate for PTSD. The one veteran
who was involved in the Christmas Island tests won benefits for that disorder.
Caio,
Pat Broudy
Legislative Advisor