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Laurie Ferguson - Maralinga Medical Officer Must Be Kept In The Dark - British Directive http://www.alp.org.au//media/0701/lfmsmara240701.html Wednesday, 25 July 2001

Maralinga Medical Officer Must Be Kept In The Dark - British Directive Laurie Ferguson - Shadow Minister for Defence Science and Personnel

Media Statement - 24 July 2001

Further evidence has emerged that the British Government sought to deliberately withhold vital information on the health risks facing Australian personnel involved in British atomic tests in the 1950s and 1960s.

Shadow Minister for Defence Science and Personnel, Laurie Ferguson MP, today released the text of a recently declassified British file note directing that the Maralinga range medical officer not be informed of the risks involved in the 'Vixen' tests in 1959 and 1960.

'This document of 16 October 1959 clearly shows that the United Kingdom Atomic Weapons Research Establishment (AWRE) at Aldermaston in England directed its Australian-based staff to withhold from the Maralinga range medical officer details of the likely dangers involved in the Vixen series of tests, 'Mr Ferguson said.

'The document asserts that the "only conceivable" risk of an accident "would be through inhalations of the cloud at a short distance from its origin during a Vixen test".

'It goes on to say:

"Ina (sic) any event there is no emergency treatment. For security reasons we do not wish the range medical officer be informed. Also there would be a danger of his inspecting any pneumonia case to be caused by the Wewak material when in fact the chance of this is so remote as to be negligible. I should be informed by the Vixen team leader if any accident occurred during a test and would then consult our medical experts here [in England] on what action should be taken."

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'Earlier in the document the AWRE head office concedes that the acute condition arising from harmful exposure to Wewak toxic material "is indistinguishable from pneumonia. Chronic exposure after may (sic) years leads to cranulomatosis of the lungs."

'It is clear that the purpose of the memo was to obstruct any efforts by the range medical officer to monitor the health of any Australian personnel who might have displayed pneumonia-like symptoms.

'There is mounting evidence from recently released material that one element of the British atomic tests in Australia was to monitor the impact on military personnel of atomic blasts.

'The bitter irony is that no proper health monitoring systems or follow up procedures were actually put in place. We thus remain in the dark about the true health position of the 17,000 Australians who were involved in some way in the tests and associated clean up operations.

'The Opposition is extremely disappointed at the slow progress of the Government's repeatedly promised mortality and cancer incidence study.

'Minister Scott was reluctantly forced into agreeing to the study in July 1999, after previously insisting that the personnel concerned suffered from no greater rates of illness or disability than the general population.

'It is not good enough that it has taken the Coalition 2 years to compile the draft nominal roll for the mortality and cancer incidence study. They clearly hope that by dragging out the study the whole issue will disappear from public view.

'The snail pace efforts of Minister Scott should be moved along so we can get to the truth of the matter,' Mr Ferguson concluded. Authorised by Geoff Walsh, 19 National Circuit, Barton ACT 2600.

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