MINISTRY OF DEFENCE
144/98 June 9, 1998
BRITISH NUCLEAR TEST VETERANS
The European Court of Human Rights today ruled in favour of the
Ministry of Defence on two test cases brought by nuclear test
veterans against the Department.
In welcoming the ruling, John Spellar, Parliamentary Under Secretary
of State for Defence said:
"Although these cases were essentially about process, the key issue
is that of the health of the test veterans. The documents which we
have provided both before and during the Court case clearly
demonstrate that the great majority of Servicemen present at the
tests were in a safe position too far from the nuclear detonations to
receive any measurable radiation dose."
The health of the test veterans has been the subject of two large
epidemiological studies by the independent and highly respected
National Radiological Protection Board (NRPB) and the Imperial Cancer
Research Fund which demonstrated that there is no excess of ill
health among test veterans as a group. We do, however, continue to
fund the NRPB for the upkeep of the test veterans study database.
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