Fissionline 18

Bulletin of Nuclear Veterans and Children Issue 18

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COMMENT There is no doubt that David Cam-eron deeply loved his disabled son Ivan who tragically died in 2009, aged six. People who saw Mr Cameron and his wife Sam together with Ivan were struck by the shining love the couple showed their little boy. No cynical PR exercise here. Their grief at his pass-ing was very real and very raw. So too was Mr Cameron’s all too understand-able frustration at people who sug-gested ‘some good’ might come out of little Ivan’s death. In a candid newspaper interview a couple of weeks ago Mr Cameron said he felt like ‘thumping’ them. He said: ‘Even though Ivan was very disabled and very ill, it was all just a total shock. We had no idea he was going to sud-denly die in the way he did. But the person who says to you, “There’s a silver lining to all this,” or “Some good will come of all this,” you actu-ally want to thump. It’s the most an-noying thing anybody can possibly say.’ Visceral words straight from the guts of a Prime Minister more used to spending his days in a haze of facile PR stunts and photo opportunities. They are also words that will resonate with thousands of British families of nuclear veterans who have been dev-astated by the illnesses and deformi-ties inflicted on so many of their off-spring. They, too, feel like ‘thumping’ those who scorn them for suggesting the illnesses were caused by their fathers/grandfathers exposure to ion-ising radiation at the A-bomb tests. We hold impeccable records revealing that an astonishing 1,038 nuclear vet-erans reported genetic illnesses in their descendents. They detail rates of blood diseases, cancers, spina bifida and Down’s Syndrome, conditions

linked to radiation exposure, far higher than the norm. It makes for extremely powerful evidence which, at the very least, deserves a thorough investigation. The New Zealand nu-clear veterans showed the way when they commissioned the Rowland re-port which proved that the chromo-somes in sailors stationed many miles from the nuclear tests at Christmas Island where damaged by radiation. Moves to replicate the Rowland study in the UK, but on a much larger scale, was given serious consideration by the British government, but inexplica-bly the leaders of the organisation, representing the veterans, took it upon themselves to oppose the idea. That was a golden opportunity missed, for if a UK Rowland study had shown similar findings as the NZ one, the MoD’s opposition to com-

pensating Britain’s nuclear veterans would become untenable. But it’s still not too late to have a Rowland Mark Two in Britain. There are still enough veterans left alive who would be willing to be tested. Our meticulous records, compiled and verified over a 16-yr period would be a good starting point in performing this vitally important exercise. Britain has both the money and the brains to carry out the task and if the results are the same as the NZ study, then the Govern-ment MUST give the nuclear veterans the benefit of the doubt and find a way to redress the historical wrong perpetrated on them. We urge the Prime Minister to consider this course of action and bring to an end one of the longest-running disputes in British history. If he can’t do it for the ex-servicemen, then he should have the courage to do it for the children.

FOR THEIR SAKES

Grandkids Unmasked Rogue Bomb in all 21 weapons tests in Australia and the Pacific. The study team was looking at the numbers of grandchildren born with genetic disorders, when it was realised the majority of respondents had taken part in the Christmas Island tests. Further research revealed that an astonishing 69 per cent of the men, like veteran John Clarke (pictured right), who reported health problems in their grandchildren had taken part in the Grapple Y explosion. The revelation spurred the researchers into further investigations...and Grapple Y loomed ever larger in their calculations. After examining more than 3,000 records they discovered nearly half the men reporting problems of all types (49.6 per cent) were present at Grapple Y. Statistician John Urqu-hart said: “But for the grandchildren we would never have known it.”

The shocked researcher described it in apocalyp-tic terms: “It was a though the grandchildren reached across the generations and tapped us on the shoulder…” The researcher was describing the revelatory moment it was realised a single bomb was the real “baddie” of Britain’s nuclear weapons tests programme. The weapon, codenamed Grapple Y, was a huge 3-megaton device exploded off the south east point of Christmas Island on April 28, 1958. It was already suspected this was a “dirty bomb” because many luckless servicemen on the island spoke of being caught in a “black rain” soon after it was exploded. But its diabolical nature only really emerged after the research team from the Open University examined re-cords of thousands of families of ex-servicemen

SECRETS AND LIES

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conceded she attended most of them or was kept in the picture. Metzer: “Did in fact the veterans minister ever write to the BNTVA in regard to the letter requested by the Prime Minister to form a view (of the Rowland Report?). Braidwood: “Yes, he did, and he invited Dr Ian Gibson and Mr John Baron MP, to join him and a number of office bearers of the BNTVA to a series of meetings to discuss both the Rowland study and possible appli-cation in UK veterans, and also any other possible research which the government might sponsor.” Metzer: “So there was a recommendation to consider the technique underlying Rowland in the context of the UK’s nuclear test veter-ans, wasn’t there? Why has the Secretary of State not carried out a Rowland-type study in this country?” Braidwood: “It’s important to note that the study reported by Professor Rowland and his team involved experiments carried out on blood, which was removed from the NZ veterans 10 years before publication of the paper. The most potent influence on the rate of chromosomal aberrations of the translo-cation stable type is age.” Part Two of the Stubbs Files “Here lies the Ministry of Defence” next edition.

Sensational transcripts of last year’s Ionising Radiation Pension Tribunal under Judge Hugh Stubbs are being published exclusively by fissionline. In the first instalment of our explosive series, we tell how the MoD managed to neutralise the Rowland Report — by turning the nuclear veterans on themselves. ____________________________ BRITAIN’S nuclear veterans were denied the chance of crucial investigations into their health problems, because their lead-ers wanted a “quick result,” according to shocking court transcripts obtained by fissionline. Representatives of the British Nuclear Veterans Association Charity told MoD officials they didn’t want to take part in a Rowland-type study because of their age and the lengthy process of assembling a study group. The Rowland Report, a New Zealand blood sample study of sailors aboard two NZ Navy frigates present for the Christ-mas Island H-bomb tests, proved the men were damaged by radiation. A similar result among a much larger group of British nuclear veterans, would have paved the way for thousands of compen-sation claims. But Ministry of Defence barrister Adam Heppinstall, told the controversial Ionis-ing Radiation Pensions Tribunal: “The whole topic (of a Rowland-type study) was discussed at length both with Mem-bers of Parliament and, more importantly, with nuclear test veterans representatives. “In fact, over time, they came to the con-clusion that they were anxious to get what they said was a quick result. They didn’t want, given their own age, to go through the process of assembling the cohort, carrying out the tests and ultimately pub-lishing them.” The point was later reinforced by the MoD’s top medical adviser Dr Ann Braid-wood during tense cross-examination by the veterans’ barrister Anthony Metzer. Braidwood, described as “very tweedy, and very Scottish” had proved a difficult protagonist, unable or unwilling to con-cede any point which might have sup-ported the Rowland Report’s conclusions. Metzer asked: “The position of the gov-ernment is that, whether it’s a recommen-dation from a former prime minister or a recommendation from a former leader of the opposition, there appears, doesn’t there, on the face of the documents that we’ve seen, a very strong desire to see whether the Rowland study, the peer-reviewed Rowland report, would result in similar findings in this country, which was

never implemented?” Braidwood: “I think that’s what we just said, isn’t it? That (a Rowland-type report) was considered, but with the agreement, the full agreement of the veterans them-selves, that route wasn’t taken. Particularly since the view was that a single study, albeit a wider and bigger one, would (a) take time and (b) of itself would provide no further information on adverse health effects.” Metzer: “The Secretary of State’s position, in spite of what I suggest is powerful evi-dence from the Rowland Report, is not to implement the recommendations contained within that, but to maintain an overall posi-tion that no exposure to harmful ionizing radiation exists in relation to these appel-lants?” Braidwood: “I think you are putting words into my mouth, forgive me. I think that the Rowland report showed a significant differ-ence between the two groups and as a sci-entist, or someone who is interested in evidence-based work, I would have been interested to replicate this study in a variety of populations, and certainly including United Kingdom atomic veterans. But that that was not done was not my decision.” Braidwood revealed there had been several “key meetings” with the veterans’ represen-tatives and the Ministry of Defence and

The Stubbs files: Explosive Tribunal transcripts published for the first time

Part One: How MoD used Nuclear Veterans Charity to block blood test study

Stubbs Died From Aggressive Cancer

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Until he was thrust centre stage in the long-running battle between Britain’s nuclear veterans and the government, Judge Hugh William James Stubbs lived his life very much in the shadows. Few knew it, but he was one of the top Freemasons in the world and was regarded with awe by colleagues and others who came into contact with him. He was known as an “eminence grise”, a rather antiquated title for someone who wields enormous power and influence, but always staying in the background. But he broke cover a year or so ago when he defied the Ministry of Defence and ordered the release of top secret documents concerning Britain’s nuclear bomb testing programme. At first defence sec-retary Liam Fox refused to give them up, but Stubbs marshalled the support of powerful friends as well as the Royal British Legion and in the end prevailed. His apparent zeal to bring justice to the nuclear veterans dimmed somewhat as the special Ionising Radiation Tribunal he was put in charge of got under way. The change of heart puzzled observers, but a possible explanation emerged when Judge Stubbs died not long after giving his surprise judgement that the majority of nuclear veterans were not entitled to war pensions. Judge Stubbs, died of an “aggressive cancer” on January 31, 2014, aged 67. He was a proud father to George, Phoebe and James and a loving husband to Vanessa.

Like a lot of nuclear veterans David Harman, who served in the RAF on Christmas Island in 1957 and 1958, is a gentle man; modest, quiet, unassum-ing and always very smartly turned out. Sadly he has recently suffered a mas-sive stroke and is now confined in a nursing home unable to communicate in any way. But before the tragic ill-ness, he let it be known that he would like to leave a sample of his blood to be tested to see if it contains evidence of the radiation he was exposed to during his nuclear bomb test stint. In interviews he described the way in which the MoD had treated veterans like him as "shabby". But it was the genetic effects of that exposure that saddened him more than anything. He and his wife Jeannie

Gentle David To Leave Blood Legacy

Nuclear Admission is Welcome News

had a child that was born grossly handicapped and deformed not long after he returned from Christmas Island, but the doctors were unhelp-ful. He said: "The trouble is really that, particularly at the time, the medical profession just stood there and said: 'we have no idea what's caused that'. I would just like the government to say sorry, we made a mistake, we should have been more protective." Jeannie said: “I can’t communicate with David. And because we never made any arrangements about get-ting power of attorney, I can’t carry out tasks like moving home or other financial transactions. It just adds to the pain and heartache of seeing him lying there unable to do anything.”

The Prime Minister’s statement is confirmation of a long running political failure to address the issue of radiation damage to health in men in-volved in specialist duties, such as those working on nuclear submarines, power stations, and not forgetting our colleagues from New Zealand and Australia who took part in the nuclear weapons tests. His admission that these are projects in-volving specialist duties is welcome support for the campaign for justice and accountability . It is also welcome support for a campaign that will not go away because a duty of care is owed not just to the men who undertook these specialist duties but also to the descendents of these men . The campaign on behalf of those who undertook these specialist duties will not go away until a just and honourable settlement is achieved. Until this happens, the campaign for truth and justice will continue.

By Dennis Hayden In response to an MP’s question, the Prime Minister’s excuse for not honouring nuclear veterans was: “It would be divisive to offer nuclear test veterans this level of recognition for being involved in this project, when those who have undertaken other specialist duties would not be receiving the same.” The mention of specialist duties is an admission that will help give cohesion to all seeking justice. If all who have undertaken specialist duties were recognised and not ig-nored, as should be the case under a proper and meaningful military covenant, then such divisiveness would not occur.

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Words: Michitaka Kobayashi, Photo: Osamu Nakamura The beautiful autumn scenery of red and yellow colored mountains surrounds Iitate Vil-lage. Here at Hosokawa farm, Mr. Hosokawa again lost three of his horses this summer. On this rainy day, decontaminating operations have been carried out in many places in the vil-lage, especially in residential homes. A village man, an evac-uee from Iitate to Iino town says: “It has been decided that the village will do decontamina-tion only in residential areas, not in the mountains. They do it just to be able to say that ‘Iitate Village has carried out decontaminating operations’. If such operations are made in the houses, there’s something for the media to write about. But if you actually live here, you will go out in the mountains, and streams will run out of the mountains. How can you say that everything will be O.K., when only residential areas are decontaminated? “On the fields and rice paddies in the village, there were great mounds of soil that stemmed from the decon-taminating operations. We saw workers scraping out soil from within the walls of a house, and it definitely gave the impression of a great effort, but at the same time, the carrying out of this endless work looks like an act of desperation. Hosokawa, who was angrily raising his fist against TEPCO when we met last summer, seemed to have passed his limit of patience.“Since then, three more horses have died. This village is reaching its end”. Saying no more, he handed me a second bottle of yogurt drink and lay down on the floor. “I don’t feel good”, he said. The resident who mentioned about the decontaminating project took up Hosokawa’s words. “It is just more than he can take. The University of Tohoku dissected the dead horses, but they say that they can’t determine the cause-effect relation of radiation. Still there were apparent abnormal results from the analysis of the blood. There’s no surprise in it for me. I imagine they need to be preparing for the worst to make such a determination. Three more horses have died here this summer. Hosokawa must be in shock”. An unchanged situation means we’re going backwards.“There’s been research on plants and animals in the mountain areas as well. So I have demanded the Ministry of Environment to inform us of the results. But they keep saying, ‘we don’t know anything yet’. If there really is no problem, why can’t they at least publish the results so far? Surely there must be something wrong if they can’t publish”. I asked the resident about the test farming of rice, which is planned to start in the Naganuma district of this village. “That is also just for show. It's like, ‘We do it, we are making a rebuilding effort’. “The government says they’ve extended the residents’ stay in temporary housing by a further two years. Can they understand how hard it is to live in a place where you can hear your next door neighbors all the time? It’s been 2 years and 7 months now, that residents have been living such places. ‘Extending’, they just say so easily” I went up to the Naganuma district, which is classified as an area of the village where return is not allowed. In this Naganuma district, test farming of rice has been conducted. Going up the steep mountain road, I came upon a dead end with a fence. A police officer was guarding the point and he ordered me to leave. Are they farming rice at the end of this road? Are they farming rice in a place where nobody even can enter? I measured the air radiation dose in the area and the counter indicated 4.7 On the concrete wall beside the mountain road, graffiti saying “Toden (TEPCO) Fuck” blurred in the rain.

Special thanks to WORLD NETWORK FOR SAVING CHILDREN FROM RADIATION

Fukushima Horse Horror

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Judge Should Have Stood Down

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Only the late Judge Hugh Stubbs, his family and doctors knew the precise moment he received the shattering news that he was suffering from an aggressive and termi-nal cancer. But given when he died, at the end of January this year, it is fairly safe to assume the dread news was delivered last year as he was determining the fate of thou-sands of men and their families in the Ionising Radiation Pensions Tribunal. The intricate and highly complex case demanded a clear head, and concise thought —attributes Judge Stubbs had in abundance. But common-sense tells us that the equilibrium of even the most fair-minded and sober of minds must have been thrown into disarray by the prospect of one’s mortality and imminent death. No-one could blame Judge Stubbs if his delibera-tions became clouded by more pressing considerations such as his family, loved ones and friends at such a mo-ment. No-one is suggesting he was incapable of arriving at a just decision. But in the interests of fair and open justice, Judge Stubbs should have stood down -- if only to avoid accusations that he rushed to an unfair judgement.

Sleeping with the enemy… For most of their 30-yr history, the Ministry of Defence and the British Nuclear Tests Veterans’ Association have been at each others throats. But round about 2007 something changed: instead of hurling insults, the warring parties be-gan to speak to each other. That was no bad thing. Jaw-jaw, as Winston Churchill famously said, is preferable to war-war. But coincidentally this jumping into bed together co-incided with the publication of the Rowland Report, the explosive New Zealand study purporting to prove that men present at A-bomb tests were irradiated. This was the big-gest threat ever to the MoD’s entrenched position that no servicemen were harmed by the bomb tests. Inexplicably, after several cosy get-togethers between BNTVA leaders and MoD officials, it was agreed that a Rowland-type study was too much trouble for UK veterans. Guess what? this incomprehensible agreement was the main plank used by the MoD in its successful bid to thwart the nuclear veterans from achieving justice via the pensions system last year.