MoD refuses to disclose 1m pages of Nuked Blood information as minister says whole families were harmed

Armed Forces Minister Luke Pollard has said veteran families “suffered the consequences” of the Nuked Blood Scandal, but survivors are still waiting for full disclosure

Ministers have refused to reveal the contents of 43,000 files that have been reviewed over allegations of human radiation experiments.

It comes after Armed Forces Minister Luke Pollard told BBC Newsnight that both veterans AND their children were harmed by Britain’s nuclear weapon testing programme, in what appears to be a massive government u-turn.

It follows decades of denial that few veterans were exposed to radiation, and there was no evidence for a legacy of genetic or psychological harm for their families.

Alan Owen, founder of campaign group LABRATS, said: “The government appears to be in a complete mess of its own making. They’ve admitted troops were harmed by radiation, that there was biological monitoring it had previously denied, and no medical supervision in what amounts to human experiments.

“Yet ministers find it impossible to make a public statement about any of it. Meanwhile, our veterans have an average age of 87 and die at the rate of one a week. Delaying justice to them, even at this stage of their lives, appears to be an intentional policy.”

Parliament was told this week that thousands of files, amounting to an estimated 1.1m pages, had been reviewed as part of an internal inquiry into the Nuked Blood Scandal. But despite questions, no-one outside the MoD has been told what was found.

A three-year investigation has uncovered an official cover-up about blood and urine tests used to monitor the health of troops during Cold War bomb trials, and which are now missing from the men’s medical files.

Successive governments have always denied they took place, telling judges and Parliament no medical monitoring was needed because all the troops were at a safe distance. After veterans launched a £5bn legal action, Labour announced a review which was supposed to have finished last Spring.

Veterans Minister Al Carns has confirmed his team has reviewed 43,000 historic files in an effort to uncover the official policy, but will not be drawn on what has been found until after it is completed.

“Given the vast scale and complexity of the work involved, we are not in a position to confirm when this exercise will conclude,” he said.

Dozens of orders for blood tests, and the names of hundreds of troops ordered to have it done, have already been found hidden behind national security at the Atomic Weapons Establishment. Campaigners have asked Mr Carns to compare those to individual medical records, as the quickest means of finding out whether the blood tests were included or not, and deliver justice to the ageing veterans.

Many former troops who have requested their medical file have found evidence of blood tests, urine tests and chest x-rays without clinical reason, and with the results removed, with an impact on future diagnosis, medical treatment, and war pensions.

Instead, Mr Carns says he has ordered his team to look into “whether policies and instructions were followed”, and they have yet to open a single service record to see if it was subsequently sanitised.

After the scandal featured in a special edition of Newsnight, Mr Pollard told the programme that “we know the consequences for many of those people participating in the tests are carried, not just by individuals, but by their family members. That’s why we want ot work out what we can declassify and share, and get to the heart of trying to get justice for these individuals.”

He predicted there may be an announcement soon, and added: “I want to see justice for those folks that were exposed to nuclear testing all those decades ago, because we’re running out of time for many of them still being around.”

It suggests that the review has prompted a change of heart within the MoD, which has always denied the testing programme had a wider impact on veterans and their families. It also appears to be a tacit admission some information that should have been public was wrongly kept hidden among state secrets, something which Thames Valley Police and the Met have been asked to investigate.

Around 10,000 files, containing an estimated 200,000 pages – less than a quarter of what the MoD has reviewed – are expected to be released to the National Archives later this summer as a result of the campaign.

Veterans Minister Al Carns said: “I am deeply grateful to all those who participated in the UK nuclear testing programme. Their bravery and determination has meant that they’ve had an immense contribution to national security… we are prioriting open up records, as well as thoroughly looking at the information which may exist around blood and urine records.”

Asked about Mr Pollard’s comments, a MoD spokesman insisted there is no evidence that children of nuclear veterans suffer increased health problems.

A peer-reviewed study by the University of Liverpool in 2007 found veterans’ children reported 10 times the usual rate of birth defects.