= ae - ed lege ee r =~ Ee roy + * tet Re sd aD, peer Al 4 “le 8 el L “9¢-4 eateatieeegee oe ; rs eae is “i 14. i -_ of ‘sho. ~| = "3 _ oe i‘ x I< 7 a. -. Lancet?‘letter bo {- 17 ek ol ee ” ‘backs A-test | cancer theory. Tea Bay os 4y . Ror de: ; on oe Ee RE ae ’ BTtT ate | cot te - 4 . Wyo . eg — 1 . Ay A 1 ed by PAUL LASHMAR 1 - CLAIMS that British ser- and the Maralinga test range vicemen. have died and in Australia. Dr Srewart’s figures have suffered illnesses from be- ‘ + ’ .. | 2" i been — . img present at British, nuc- Biven * lear tests in the 1950s and 1960s have been supported by evidence from a leading ] || oes | oe t, . 4 a —_ ‘ « - : } t: 1 i . | Jdi 1 ‘ \ ut ; , el1 ee ‘ . . - - . “4 ' 5 * - “ . . j e to substantial doses of radiatien. . to from names from letters from former servicemen wrillen to BBC Nationwide and THE OBSERVER. A second letter in yesterday’s Lancet from a group af seven eminent doctors and professors, all experts on radiation and its effects, supports Dr Stewart’s dara and calls for a full independent inquiry. One of the group, Dr Jack Fielding, Honorary Conant Haematologrst at St Mary’s Hospital, Paddingtan, described Dr Stewart's gures as ‘amazing and unex- pected.” ° In a. ferver to the medical He said vesterdav: ‘It is journal, the Lencet. pub- clear that tne sample of 330 lished: yesterday, Dr Stewart are self-selecting but Dr Stewal that statistically she art has already found a much weuld have expected only 17 greater incident of cancer of deaths from these cancers in the blood-forming organs | : the entire batch of 8.000 men than you would expect from t : ; |1 who served op Christmas the entire sample of 8,000 Island: .. men.’ . { & group of British nuclear Dr Fielding:is certain that 5 test veterans has formed an many of the men have been q association to fight for com- exposed to radiation. ‘ What ; i pensation for men and the is also striking is the amount relatives of men who they of additional evidence from { say suffered as a result of the data that many of the men have been expesed to radiabeing at the tests. » | Py -So far, the Ministry of tion. If you include those who “Y eo. Defence has maintained that died of other causes but had 1 ' mo one suffered from the cancers like leukaemia and suffering from these cancers Lo I tests and has refused to pay like leukaemia and incluce pensions to men who claim ~ cf y have suffered illnesses men still alive burt suffer! *: these cancers you ‘1 . t being exposed to from 48 cases—15 per cent of te '{ |\ radiation. The ministry says sample. -¥ that. safety rules at the tests : ‘Ten of the sample have were. ‘stringently observed.’ cataracts, whch in men of Im January,- three days these ages are rare except for 7 | after a-front-page article in those exposed to radiation.’ rt:Tae Osserver highlighting The seven doctors and ‘the plight of the veterans, professors want the ministhe. - Ministry of Defence ury’s survey to be turned announced it would organise over to an independent body @ mortality survey of- the and extended 10 cover ser312,000 servicemen who had vwicerpen who are Jiving and been at the tests at Monte ‘To test the sons and daughtBello and Christmas Island ers of veterans. , } . aemia, has a high incident rate among people exposed ro ay tos cancer,-which urcludes jeuk- i1 to - died of cance of the biloodforming organs. This kind of | ative' ‘Dr Alice Stewart, of tre Umiversiry of Birmingham, has established that 27 men fram a sample of 330 veterans of aromic tests an Chrismas Island in che Jate 1950s have’ en . ' * camcer expert compiled