Grandchildren of Mururoa nuclear veterans face ongoing medical problems

Friday, 2 August 2019

Mururoa Nuclear Test Veteran Group president Gavin Smith and group member Tony Cox talk about the effect of watching the 1973 nuclear test at Mururoa. (Video first published in August 2019).

A New Zealand mother hopes to finally learn if her children's unexplained illnesses are caused by her father's military service during a nuclear protest.

Donna Weir's father served in the navy in 1973 when Prime Minister Norman Kirk sent two frigates and 500 men on a sea-borne protest to nuclear testing at a French Polynesian atoll.

It was at Mururoa that Allan Hamilton was exposed to harmful ionising-radiation while observing two nuclear explosions by the French on board the HMNZS Canterbury.

Weir and her two children will join a University of Otago study that hopes to establish whether genetic transfer of illnesses are related to exposure to nuclear radiation.

**READ MORE:

An automatic camera captures an atomic bomb blast conducted by France, on the Mururoa Atoll, part of French Polynesia, in the South Pacific Ocean, in July 1970. (AP Photo)

* Legacy of nuclear test still remains for navy veteran after 60 years

* Research gives hope for nuclear test vets families**

The Mururoa Nuclear Veterans Group, which was established in 2013 to press the Government to help families with nuclear related illnesses, had 135 members who served at the protest. Of those, 56 had children or grandchildren with unexplained medical conditions.

Kirk promised Hamilton, now 71, he would be looked after if anything went wrong. But his service now filled him with guilt as radiation-related diseases appear to have filtered through the generations.

Although the cost of his 11 year battle with cancer is covered by Veterans Affairs, the plight of his descendents is not.

Hamilton never spoke of his time in the navy and Weir didn't know of his exploits in Mururoa until both her children started experiencing chronic medical problems. She also had several miscarriages.

Her eldest child Hayley, 11, has had ongoing problems with her stomach and has required surgery.

Her son Zac, 7, has several complications, including hyperdontia, ocular motor apraxia and speech disorder. These affect the development of his teeth and his ability to control eye movement.

'Basically, the wiring in his brain is all over the place. He learned to walk with a walking frame because his ankles were like spaghetti.'

Zac has been working with a speech specialist for nearly half a decade. But, even now, people struggle to understand him.

Doctors assured his mother it was caused by genetic defects, but refused to confirm it was the result of inherited radiation exposure.

Weir, who was born after 1973, said there was no evidence of genetic problems in her or her husband's family. They have spent close to $50,000 on their children's struggles.

'We stopped having kids as soon as [the conditions] developed. That's hard. That's really hard.'

Her two siblings have fit and healthy children. Both were born before their father went to Mururoa.

The Balclutha woman knew of other Mururoa descendents who had children with severe physical deformities, such as six fingers and inverted rib cages.

She believed the Government should cover the treatment of veterans' families, who were battling illnesses because of their relatives' service.

Prime Minister Norman Kirk farewells crew aboard HMNZS Otago, en-route to Mururoa in 1973.

'No-one is asking for a payout. But [veterans and families] have been treated badly by the New Zealand Government,' she said.

'They're still political footballs. We've been political hot potatoes because no-one wants to touch us.'

Mururoa Nuclear Veterans Group president Gavin Smith wanted all veterans and their families to be part of the university's study.

Mururoa Nuclear Veterans Group president Gavin Smith, right, with fellow veterans Tony Cox, left, and Cyril Goulsbro.

However, without a full list of those who served on the frigates, the group needed to get in touch with crew, their widows or their families.

Smith, 68, who also served on HMNZS Canterbury, said veterans felt guilty they had passed their suffering down the family tree, and many would have refused to take part in the protest had they known the perils of radiation in the 1970s.

HMNZS Canterbury and HMNZS Otago were sent to protest French nuclear testing at Mururoa in 1973.

'We would have chosen not to have families.'

University of Otago associate professor David McBride is conducting the first medical testing of veterans' children and grandchildren.

'The study will be very comprehensive with interviews, a health questionnaire and genetic testing all being looked at,' he said.

'We are asking for any New Zealand veterans who served in nuclear theatres to contact us so we can make this research as comprehensive as possible.'

Manawatū mother Anu Sefton studied the ill effects of nuclear radiation on the descendants of veterans.

Manawatū mother Anu Sefton, whose father was involved with Operation Grapple, the British testing of nuclear bombs in the Pacific in 1957 and 1958, investigated the experience of other descendants of nuclear veterans in her post-graduate study at Massey University.

She said there was worrying research from United Kingdom scientist Christopher Busby, who studied the exposure to animals after nuclear bombs were dropped in Hiroshima and Nagasaki during World War II.

It revealed that inherited radiation diseases were at their worst in the fifth generation.

'I didn't think about it until I got pregnant. I said at [the scan]: 'Tell me the gender. I need to know the gender because I need to know if it has genitals and a working heart.''

Her daughter Maddie, 13, suffers from chronic fatigue, however, its relationship with radiation exposure cannot be confirmed.

HOW WERE SAILORS EXPOSED TO RADIATION?

From 1960 to 1996, France carried out 210 nuclear tests, 17 in the Algerian Sahara and 193 in French Polynesia in the South Pacific.

HMNZS Otago is welcomed home to Auckland upon returning from protesting nuclear testing at Mururoa Atoll.

Neither frigate came within 20 nautical miles – the minimum safe distance of detonation. But both ships passed through the contaminated cloud and drew contaminated water into the ship.

According to Gavin Smith, who worked in the engine room of HMNZS Canterbury, the seawater was brought onboard and desalinated for drinking water and the food was stored within reach of any exposure or fallout.

The water had been radiated for years, but officers wouldn't allow the crew to test samples to determine whether it had high levels.

'We were ingesting it,' Smith said. 'Even today there is no bird life or fish life.'

An Institute of Environmental Science and Research report in 2015 discounted drinking water contamination as a possible avenue of exposure.

The report stated: 'Crews of neither ship were exposed to significant radiation attributable to the weapon tests.

'Due to the lower natural background radiation levels over the oceans and the lack of exposure to other sources of radiation, the crews of HMNZS Otago and HMNZS Canterbury received no more radiation exposure during their one-month deployments to Mururoa than their families did at home, and possibly less.'

Descendents who want to be part of the study can contact the Mururoa Veterans Group via its website.