Hidden records about the Nuked Blood scandal are due to be released, but the Ministry of Defence is refusing to answer questions about the contents
Evidence of human radiation experiments by the British government is being withheld from campaigners, despite orders from ministers that it should be released.
The Mirror’s Freedom of Information requests to publish details about the medical monitoring of troops during nuclear weapons tests have been rejected, ignored, and refused.
Even MPs in Parliament have been denied answers, despite a criminal complaint and pending £5bn lawsuit. Veterans believe it is a “delaying tactic” by officials to deny accountability for as long as possible.
Alan Owen of campaign group LABRATS said: “Veterans have always known the game plan is delay, deny, until they die. We have proved they hold evidence of these experiments, we have forced them to publish some of it, and even when the minister has instructed them to publish the rest they are fighting a rearguard action to keep a lid on it for as long as possible.
“There is no good reason for it and we are asking the Veterans Minister to intervene.”
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More than 28,000 records relating to the risks of radiation injury are known to be hidden on a database, codenamed Merlin, at the Atomic Weapons Establishment. It is locked as a state secret, on the grounds of national security.
More than 150 of files were published last year after Parliamentary pressure. They contained thousands of pages of evidence about blood testing of British and Commonwealth troops before, during and after they were exposed to radiation at Cold War bomb tests.
The Mirror requested a complete list of all the document titles last December, but the AWE refused to comply on the grounds that “the AWE does not hold a record list of the document titles and dates”.
The Mirror requested an internal review which is supposed to be completed within 40 working days. The request was ignored for two months, and in May the AWE said: “An investigation is being carried out, but the response is taking longer than anticipated.”
Six weeks later, campaigning Tory MP Sir John Hayes has asked Veterans Minister Al Carns to produce the list and place it in the Library of Parliament. Mr Carns said: “Officials are working at pace to formally transfer the records on the Merlin database to the National Archives, while ensuring that sensitive information is protected… Once transferred, the records will be listed and accessible on TNA’s website.”
Sir John said: “This database must include a list of file names within its structure, and it could be easily produced. Seeing as the minister has undertaken to publish the entire thing at some future date, the obvious conclusion is that not doing will mean a delay of many months for people who have waited for decades. He must reconsider and act with all haste to end this injustice.”
There is no deadline for Merlin to be published, and it is expected to take months to check every document and redact personal data. After they are released, archivists will have to catalogue and tag an estimated 750,000 pages of information before they can be made available online.
Only 10% of the veterans, who have an average age of 87, still survive. The MoD was contacted for comment.