Nuked Blood: MoD ordered to find missing medical records

An interior probe has been launched aft a BBC documentary reported allegations that the Ministry of Defence withheld aesculapian records from troops progressive successful Cold War experiments

The Ministry of Defence has been ordered to find the aesculapian records of atomic veterans that person been hidden for 70 years.

An interior probe was announced successful the aftermath of a BBC documentary into the Nuked Blood Scandal, and an alleged authoritative cover-up of humor tests taken from troops during Cold War weapons tests.

Prime Minister Keir Starmer told Parliament yesterday it was “a truly important issue” but did not respond to requests to conscionable the affected families and spot their grounds for himself.

Defence Secretary John Healey announced the interior enquiry erstwhile quizzed astir the movie by a Commons prime committee connected Thursday.

* You tin donate to the veterans’ crowdfunder HERE

South Shields MP Emma Lewell-Buck asked the minister: “How agelong is the authorities and the MoD going to clasp the enactment that thing is being withheld from the veterans, and that their families aren’t suffering from the effects of radiation?”

Mr Healey insisted thing was being withheld, but records whitethorn person been lost.

“What we’re doing is simply a elaborate excavation into what whitethorn beryllium held, but we’ve not been alert of it,” helium said. “If determination are documents that the authorities holds successful immoderate portion of the strategy past we volition merchandise them arsenic they ask… immoderate of this digging is not straightforward, and immoderate of these records whitethorn not exist.”

He praised the Mirror ’s 40-year run for the information but said: “There’s not needfully an inconsistency erstwhile atomic trial veterans cognize they were medically tested astatine the time, oregon soon after, but present decades aboriginal those records whitethorn not beryllium oregon beryllium partial, and that’s what we’re trying to get to the bottommost of.”

He said helium wanted to debar a lengthy judge-led enquiry due to the fact that of the property and wellness of the veterans.

Survivors person reported the lone parts of their aesculapian records missing are pages that subordinate to their clip astatine the tests, and accidental the files appear to person been filleted alternatively than mislaid.

Even if they person been unintentionally lost, it could inactive pb to monolithic compensation and an apology for aesculapian negligence, with damages aggravated by the cover-up. There is besides imaginable for a transgression probe of officials who hid records down bogus claims of nationalist security.

Human rights lawyer Jason McCue, who is starring the ineligible combat for the truth, welcomed the probe but said the MoD had failed to prosecute with the imaginable £5bn claim, oregon the veterans’ connection to mediate with a one-year peculiar tribunal to bounds costs to the taxpayer.

“It’s not astir authorities saying they volition conscionable and supply sympathy on with a photograph call, they indispensable conscionable the veterans’ request for justice,” helium said.

“Clearly they are inactive frightened to prosecute oregon conscionable with the veterans’ ineligible representatives due to the fact that they are frightened of the costs progressive to marque things right.”

Britain’s Nuclear Bomb Scandal: Our Story is available connected iPlayer and volition beryllium screened successful Parliament connected Monday.