Mururoa: Results of nuclear tests probe due soon

A commission of inquiry into claims that French nuclear testing on Mururoa atoll in French Polynesia caused deaths and severe long-term health problems is due to publish its findings this month.

France conducted 41 atmospheric nuclear tests between 1966 and 1974. It followed those with 134 underground nuclear tests between 1975 and 1991. Eight more tests took place in 1995 and 1996.

In July, the territory's president, Oscar Temaru, set up a commission to investigate the effects of the tests.

British Sunday newspaper the Observer reported that French Polynesian opponents of France had consistently blamed nuclear tests for the region's chronic levels of leukaemia and other cancers.

They believed that they would be vindicated by the report and that it would establish that France had, for years, engaged in an elaborate cover-up. They also claimed Paris was aware of the health risks when testing began in 1966.

"We are now getting more than 600 cases of cancer a year and more than 250 deaths because of these tests," Roland Oldham, president of Mururoa e Tatou, the association of former Mururoa workers, told the Observer.

The report would prove an important test for the credibility of Mr Temaru, the newspaper said. Since being elected, he had disappointed supporters by saying independence from France could be 20 years away.

- NZPA