Scottish study finds high levels of health problems among Britis

["Sandy Perle" <sandyfl@ix.netcom.com>]

The following is an article regarding a study regarding a study that 
found high levels of health problems among British veterans. 

      SYDNEY, Dec 30 (AFP) - Australia was urged Tuesday to launch new
research into the effects of nuclear testing on its servicemen after a
Scottish study found high levels of health problems among British
veterans. 
   A survey of 2,300 nuclear test veterans conducted by researchers at
Dundee University found that at least 400 had descendants affected by
handicaps or chronic medical conditions. 
   Similar claims have already emerged in Australia, where one  
report Tuesday focused on a woman who claimed her husband's death in
1992 was attributable to his exposure to radiation at the British
government's nuclear test site at Maralinga in South Australia in
1956. 
   The couple's 37-year-old daughter wants compensation from the
government for the consequences of severe facial disfigurement which
she blames on her father's exposure to radiation, The Australian said.
   Dundee University researcher Sue Rabbitt-Roff told ABC radio  here
that she had asked Canberra to undertake a similar study on Australian
servicemen who were exposed to radiation at home and abroad.    A
preliminary study in the 1980s at Maralinga where nuclear  testing was
carried out in the 1950s and 60s, was not substantial enough to reveal
conclusive results, Rabbitt-Roff said. 
   "And certainly it's timely now for another study of the  
Australian participants," she said in an interview recorded in 
Britain. 
   She said she did not expect the outcomes for the Australians to  be
any different from the British. 
   Veterans Affairs Minister Bruce Scott's office recently  
indicated it would be prepared to consider a study of men who were at
Hiroshima and Nagasaki in Japan, she said. 
   But the government owed a duty of care to anybody who was placed in
jeopardy, she said, adding: "And they owe a duty of follow up, both
medical and in terms of compensation and pensions, to men whose
working lives and perhaps their own life itself has been foreshortened
by these exposures." 
   "And then we have to consider the welfare of the widows and  
families left by these men and also potentially the problems that may
become apparent in their children and grandchildren." 
   She said compensation was appropriate because at the time of the
tests military medics and managers knew about the genetic implications
of exposure. 
   "It would only be honourable for their own governments to  
address this injury in the appropriate manner." 
   Opposition veterans' affairs spokesman Laurie Ferguson said the
only study undertaken into the problem in Australia was done decades
ago when research methods were inferior and an up-to-date study could
be put off no longer. 
   "The indications from the Dundee study are that there is a  
connection in regard to the physical plight and the outcomes for the
children and grandchildren of veterans who were exposed to these
tests," he said. 
------------------
Sandy Perle
Technical Director
ICN Dosimetry Division
Costa Mesa, CA 92626
Office: (800) 548-5100 x2306 
Fax:    (714) 668-3149
  
sandyfl@ix.netcom.com
sperle@icnpharm.com

Personal Homepage:
http://www.geocities.com/CapeCanaveral/1205

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