N-blast left ‘living nightmare’

Press, 3 December 1982, Page 6

N-blast left ‘living nightmare’

NZPA London Members of the task force that tested Britain’s first Hbombs on Christmas Island 25 years ago have blamed radiation for causing cancer, ulcers, mental disorders and sterility. Now, they want compensation for what one has dubbed “a living nightmare." Millions of viewers of 8.8. C. TV’s “Nationwide” programme yesterday heard Philip Munn, who has leukemia, say; “As far as I am concerned, there is a high probability that I developed it through the H-bomb test I witnessed on that island.” Christmas Island,' a tiny uninhabited coral atoll in the Pacific discovered by Captain Cook on Christmas Day, 1777, was considered ideal

for H-bomb tests in the atmosphere in the 19505. The first test wps on May 15, 1957, and the full programme lasted 18 months, with 10 explosions above ground. ' Mr Munn, aged 48, of East Kilbride, near Glasgow, described how, as a 22-year-old sapper in the Royal Engineers, he lay on his stomach on the beach as an eightmegaton bomb was exploded. “There were three to four hundred of us there. The only protection we had was antiflash gear — balaclavas and goggles. There was a flash of white, light, a tremendous which went through our boots and up our backs, like someone opening an oven door, and the blast rolled us over." . . He had been unwell , for some time before leukemia was diagnosed in August.

However, his claim for a war pension has been turned down. Now he wants compensation, but more than that, recognition that he and the others were subjected to radiation. “I want credibility for those who may be suffering from radiation illness,” he said. He is convinced that there has , been a Government cover-up of what happened on Christmas Island. On “Nationwide,” Dr Hugh Evans, a lecturer on radiation protection at Imperial College, London, said that radiation levels during the H-bomb tests were extremely low. “Less than they would receive in every day from natural causes,” he said. But Ken McGinley, aged 44, of’ East Bay, Dunoon, disagreed. He believes that

he became sterile as a result of radiation on the island. He said that three H-bombs and two atomic bombs exploded. He was less than 30km away from the first blast. Four of the bombs were launched from a Vulcan bomber, and one from a balloon. ■ He was a 19-year-old sapper when he watched the first , explosion from the island’s beach. He said; “They weren’t experimenting on bombs, they were experimenting on us. We were used as guinea pigs.” Four months after he returned from Christmas Island, a duodenal ulcer was diagnosed. In the past two years, he has developed another one. He had been told by other witnesses of the tests that they had kidney complaints.

leukemia, lung illnesses, and mental disorders. Edward Egan, aged 43, of Chryston, near Glasgow, was a mechanical engineer on board H.M.S. Ulysses which sailed . into the testing zone. He said: “We were told to stay on the upper deck of the ship with protective clothing and glasses on. I was, wearing an asbestos suit. • “It was the most horrible sensation. A coldness went through all my bones, followed by the heat of the blast.” ’ A specialist recently diagnosed that Mr Egan had sarcoidosis of the lungs. Mr Egan said that when his grandchildren were born they had to be given injections to prevent the disease being carried on through the family.