Group items tagged

Nearly 35 years after France thumbed its nose at world opinion and held a series of nuclear tests on Mururoa Atoll in the South Pacific, David Barber's view has not changed. It was a fundamentally wrong thing for France to do and nothing since had altered that opinion, Barber said.

French Polynesia's nuclear test veterans' group, Mururoa o tatou, has welcomed news that the French government plans to introduce a law to set up a compensation fund for those suffering poor health as a result of the French nuclear weapons tests in the Pacific. Such a law is expected to be tabled early next year and could pave the way for France to recognise a causal link between the tests and the prevalence of conditions such as thyroid cancer.

A court in French Polynesia has begun hearing complaints from former workers at France's nuclear weapons test sites. The cases, being heard for the first time, relate to work in Mururoa and Fangataufa and seek recognition and compensation for ill health. Eight cases have been lodged, although five of the workers have already died of what have been called radiation-linked diseases. In March, the French government enacted legislation to allow compensation.

One hundred survivors of the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki returned to Tokyo on Tuesday from a four-month voyage around the world to call for the abolition of nuclear weapons and share their experiences with global audiences. During the voyage, organized by the nongovernmental organization Peace Boat, the survivors visited 20 countries to meet with the local people to seek nuclear abolition. In Danang, Vietnam, in September they visited victims of Agent Orange, a chemical dropped by U.S. forces during the Vietnam War, at the Rehabilitation Center for Victims of Agent Orange, while in Papeete, Tahiti, in December, they met with those who were affected by French nuclear tests at the Mururoa Atoll, according to Peace Boat. From Japan, 94 survivors participated in the voyage, with four from South Korea, two from Brazil, and one each from Australia, Canada and Mexico, according to Peace Boat.

June 3 (Bloomberg) -- On May 1, 1962, Lucien Parfait watched the In-Eker Mountain in the southern desert of Algeria tremble and fissure under a black cloud full of dust. Parfait, 68, witnessed one of France's 210 atomic tests from a distance of 800 meters (2,625 feet) with only a white cotton overall for protection. The former French army draftee, who'd dug tunnels in the mountain to place the bomb, is among thousands of people who say they were exposed to radiation from atomic tests between 1960 and 1996 in France's former Algerian colony and in the Polynesian atolls of Mururoa and Fangataufa.

French victims of nuclear bomb testing are getting a multimillion-pound payout... while British veterans are still being ignored. This week the French government announced it was "time to be true to its conscience" and revealed a £9million compensation package. In Britain the Ministry of Defence continues to fight claims by veterans who suffer health problems such as cancers, skin conditions, bone disorders and 10 times the normal rate of birth defects in their children. But after more than 40 years of similar denials, the authorities in France have agreed to pay out to veterans and civilians who fell ill following tests in the Pacific.

A ten-million euro compensation package for the victims of nuclear test is being described as "peanuts". The French Defence minister Hervé Morin has outlined the main points of a proposed Bill to compensate, for the first time, victims of nuclear testing conducted by France both in Algeria and later in French Polynesia, between 1966 and 1996. Roland Oldham, the president of the French Polynesian nuclear test veterans' group, Mururoa o Tatou, says the deal is a bad joke. "They announce a few million like that, just like we should be very happy, we should drop on our knees and say thank you to the French Government. But that's not the case at all, because it's peanuts , it really is peanuts when you compare how the French government spends a lot of money on defence."

The first court hearing is due to start in London later today in a multi-million dollar compensation case brought by veterans of British nuclear weapons tests, including those in the Pacific. The case includes hundreds of British, New Zealand and Fiji veterans who took part in the tests on Malden and Christmas Island in Kiribati in 1957 and 1958. Ben Lowings reports from London. "It's being billed as the veterans' day in court - and one former serviceman is flying in from Fiji for the occasion. Pita Rokovada and the other veterans are suing the British defence ministry for millions in compensation. The veterans believe they were used as guinea pigs to study the effects of radiation."

France has committed 80 million U.S. dollars to rehabilitate French Polynesian atoll of Hao, a key military base during the 20 years of nuclear weapons testing in the South Pacific. An agreement on France's assistance was signed between the French High Commissioner in Papeete, Adolphe Colrat, the French Polynesian vice-president, Jules Ienfa, and the Mayor of Hao, the Pacnews reported on Monday. Colrat said the clean-up will take seven years and marked a financial commitment by France 10 times bigger than what has been dispersed on Hao so far.

French Polynesians who have had their claims for compensation for the effects of nuclear testing rejected say they won't give up their bids for redress. France carried out many nuclear tests in French Polynesia from 1960 until 1996, and its government has said it will compensate the victims. But campaigner, John Doom, says eight people who took their cases to French Polynesia's industrial relations tribunal were unsuccessful. He says the three surviving workers have leukaemia, and they and the five widows will consult with lawyers over how to continue with their bids.

"Protests were held in several European countries over the weekend against the last American nuclear weapons remaining on the continent. The hundreds of protesters who turned out were a far cry from the massive demonstrations of the 1980s. By Marjolein van de Water in Uden * Archive - Labour party wants US nuclear weapons removed from Dutch soil * Opinion - 'We must play an active role to establish a nuclear weapon free world' "Will I get fined if I pee against a tree?" a young man with dreadlocks asked a police officer. The officer, pointed him in the direction of a couple of portable toilets 50 metres away. The boy trudged over to answer to nature's call. "