Men Used As 'Guinea Pigs' In Atomic Weapons Tests Should Be Compensated, MP Says

The Government should compensate men "deliberately used as guinea pigs" in "macabre" atomic weapons tests, an MP has said.

SNP veterans spokeswoman Carol Monaghan called on the Government to commit to compensating Royal Fleet Auxiliary personnel involved in nuclear testing in the Pacific in 1957 and 1958.

Speaking in the House of Commons, Ms Monaghan told the Commons about seamen on RFA Wave Sovereign who were part of Operation Grapple.

She said the ship was moored about 12 miles away from the blasts as weapons were tested on Christmas Island.

Ms Monaghan said sailors were first exposed to Gamma and Beta wave particles from the initial blast and then Alpha particles from the nuclear fallout, which she described as the "most dangerous" form of radiation.

She said: "Men were deliberately used as guinea pigs in a macabre scientific experiment, and their health was sacrificed simply to prove our worth to America."

Ms Monaghan said there is "currently there is no compensation fund" for the veterans, whose "numbers are dwindling".

She also said there are "thought to be about 130,000 descendants who report ten times the normal level of birth defects or organ malformations and leukaemia".

Ms Monaghan said one veteran's children "all suffer with bone or spinal problems", telling the Commons "his granddaughter's hips were back-to-front when she was born".

But she said the Ministry of Defence [MOD] "continues to deny liability".

Defence minister Tobias Ellwood argued there is "no expert evidence of excess illness or mortality among nuclear tests veterans in general that could be linked to their participation in the tests themselves".

He said measures for the "protection, health and welfare of all those involved in the test was in place".

Mr Ellwood said a fourth report into the mortality rates and frequency of cancer in the veterans is expected to be released in 2020.

He said "should findings produce new evidence" then it will be "reflected in policy itself".