Nuked blood: Test veterans told to search for their own missing medical records
Heroes of Britain's Cold War weapons tests have been told they must search alone for the evidence their government irradiated them.
After the Mirror revealed last week more than 200 pages of evidence about blood and urine being collected from servicemen, analysed, and later withheld from their official medical records, peers told the House of Lords yesterday the veterans deserved the truth.
Labour peer Tom Watson said veterans had been given misleading information about their files by both the Ministry of Defence and the Atomic Weapons Establishment, an MoD agency which is believed to hold the blood records as part of the 'scientific data' collected during the tests.
Survivors and their next of kin have been repeatedly told by ministers any analysis will be in their main service health file, but we have found dozens who, when they request the documents, find everything from their time at the tests is missing.
Lord Watson said: "In 2018, the MoD acknowledged their inability to locate this information, yet in 2022 the AWE confirmed the possession of a limited number of test results. But in March, a minister contradicted this, saying the AWE no longer has these records. Veterans families have lodged appeals with the Information Commissioner's Office for more answers. What test data exists for the veterans, in what format, and how many does it cover?"
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He urged the government to resolve the issue, and give veterans access to their nuked blood results without the need to resort to lawyers.
He was backed up by Lib Dem peer Lord Allan of Hallam, who said the veterans "have an absolute right" to access their test results and asked the government to help them do so. The average age of veterans is 86, and many have found it difficult to make online data protection requests or know how to appeal a refusal if they get one.
Labour defence spokesman Lord Tunnicliffe asked: "Is there a member of the government to whom a veteran can turn, and be guaranteed that they will be helped through this process of gaining this information? They were exposed to dangerous radiation."
Government Cabinet Office minister Baroness Neville-Rolfe did not answer any of the specific questions asked, saying instead the veterans could apply to the MoD for "any relevant data in their service record". She added: "No information is withheld... in the case of AWE, they may need to make a Freedom of Information request."
She said a recent letter written by Lord Watson to the PM on the same issue would be answered by the MoD, "which will reply to the detailed points that he has raised".
Asked if the government was monitoring areas used for weapons testing over environmental damage caused by nuclear fallout, she said only that there would be a medal for those who took part in the trials. She confirmed the medal was being done "slower than expected" but confirmed veterans would have it before Remembrance Sunday.
Veterans were angered by an intervention by Lord Robathan, a former junior defence minister, who said: "A dozen years ago when I was working in the MoD, the nuclear test veterans' organisation brought a case against the MoD for compensation. It went to the Supreme Court and.... after some deliberation, it found there was no case to answer."
He added: "Indeed our own investigations at the time found that if one had watched a nuclear tests in the South Pacific in the early 1950s, against a cohort of your peers you were more likely to be alive than they were, which was quite extraordinary... please, let's respect those that did their work, did their duty in the South Pacific, but please let us not be led down a blind alley of people who for some reason believe that they were harmed when actually they were not."
The latest government study has found the nuclear veterans were more likely to die, and more likely to die from cancer, than their peers. In 2012, Lord Robathan was accused of misleading the House of Commons when he wrongly described the Supreme Court judgement as having "found no causal link" between radiation and subsequent illnesses suffered by veterans. In fact, the court never heard any evidence, and the case was thrown out for having been brought too late.
Efforts are now being made to force Lord Robathan to correct the record and apologise for misleading Parliament.
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