Officials press for A-bomb answers

By NAOMI LARKIN

Defence officials from Australia and New Zealand will continue to press the British Government for answers on whether troops were used as guinea-pigs during nuclear tests in the 1950s.

The New Zealand Minister of Defence and Veterans' Affairs, Mark Burton, said yesterday that he had instructed his officials to focus on the "question of consent and informed consent" in their inquiries into radiation tests in the Maralinga desert, South Australia.

"It clearly is a central question that is yet to be resolved."

Mr Burton said the involvement of the New Zealanders was never a secret and was initiated by Defence officials in this country.

But it appeared that few details had been provided about what they would actually do at the test site.

"Work continues to establish a full account of the facts."

A furore has erupted over claims last week by Scottish researcher Sue Rabbitt Roff that five New Zealand officers, with 19 other servicemen from Britain and Australia, were forced to crawl, march and drive through a fallout zone three days after a nuclear bomb had been detonated.

The object was to test what types of clothing would give the best protection against radioactive contamination in conditions of warfare.

Two of the surviving New Zealanders said they suffered no ill-effects from the tests.

One of the five has died.

The two survivors said they wore protective clothing but other servicemen wore only shorts and short-sleeved shirts.

One of the men, Flight Lieutenant Roger Peart, told the Herald that the men knew they were going to experience the effects of an atom bomb.

In 1997, the British Government claimed in the European Court of Human Rights that no humans had been used in experiments in nuclear weapons trials.

Since the release of Sue Rabbitt Roff's research, the British Ministry of Defence has admitted that it used Commonwealth servicemen but has repeatedly denied that the men were used as guinea-pigs, saying every man had given his consent to the experiments.

The ministry also insists that the men's skin was covered at all times.

The New Zealand Defence attache in London, Brigadier Richard Ottaway, was continuing to meet British Defence officials in a bid to establish the facts, a spokesman for Mr Burton said yesterday.

It was still too early to say if the men or their families would receive compensation, Mr Burton said.

Britain's Guardian newspaper yesterday reported that the Australian veterans' minister, Bruce Scott, was in London to "urgently investigate" the Maralinga tests.

Mr Scott said he had been assured by John Spellar, British Minister for the Armed Forces, that the ministry would make available all relevant documents.

Sue Rabbitt Roff told the Herald those controlling the tests were fully aware of the health implications of nuclear radiation.

She said all of the Governments had a duty of care to compensate their servicemen.