French ‘refusing to show health figures’

Press, 4 September 1982, Page 12

French ‘refusing to show health figures’

NZPA Sydney The French authorities in Tahiti were refusing to disclose health statistics to an internationally sponsored cancer register for the South Pacific, the Melbourne "Age" has reported. It said that the refusal, according to critics of France’s continued nuclear testing in the region, was an attempt to cover up the effects the testing was having on islanders.

Professor Brian Henderson of the University of Southern California. Los Angeles, had been collating data from New Caledonia. Fiji. Western Samoa, and Papua New Guinea for the first Pacific cancer register, which the “Age" said had been en-

dorsed by the South Pacific Commission. It said that most of Tahiti's cancer cases were sent to France where they were widely dispersed for treatment. Many were sent privately to New Zealand for treatment at the Dunedin Hospital. "The nuclear protest organisation Greenpeace said the numbers are restricted so as not to arouse concern." the "Age" reported and quoted a Greenpeace, Auckland. spokesman as saying they were the "tip of the iceberg.** Dr Frank Foster, chief health statistician in the NewZealand Health Department, provided the "Age" with a breakdown of cancer cases treated in New Zealand. It showed that between 1975-

1978 a total 67 Tahitians and 13 Cook Islanders received treatment. Leukaemia, the cancer usually associated with exposure io radiation, did not appear in any of the cases treated in New Zealand, he said.

However, the "Age" also reported him as saying that without knowing the true extent of cancer among the islanders, it was difficult to judge what effect, if any. testing was having on the population. The New Zealand information was being fed to the U.C.L.A. cancer register. Professor Henderson told the “Age" the Tahitians had started their own cancer register. but they were not enthusiastic about sharing their information.