Top secret documents about blood and urine testing of troops at nuclear weapons trials have been declassified, just 24 hours after legal papers were served on the government.
The 150 files, with titles including “blood counts” and “blood data”, were categorised as atomic state secrets as recently as January.
It comes a day after veterans served formal notice of their intent to sue for their medical records. The Ministry of Defence has previously denied having any information about blood sampling of troops.
Alan Owen, founder of campaign group LABRATS, said: “There has never been any reasonable explanation why medical diagnostic tests, the only purpose of which is to find out if veterans had been exposed to radiation, were hidden. That we know about them, and they are now open, is purely as a result of pressure in Parliament and the media. Our supporters will now be asking for all of these documents to be published full.”
Veterans Terry Quinlan and Brian Unthank salute before presenting their petition to Number 10 (PA)The veterans' case is supported by a crowdfunder. To donate, go to: https://www.crowdjustice.com/case/nuclear-veterans-case/
Around 22,000 men were ordered to take part in nuclear weapons tests and radiation experiments between 1952 and 1967 in Australia and the Pacific. For decades they have reported a legacy of cancers, blood disorders, miscarriages and birth defects, while the MoD has insisted they were safe, and fought every war pension.
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Despite repeated court cases, it has never produced the blood tests as proof that the men were NOT irradiated. Withholding, falsifying or destroying medical records is a criminal offence.
In 2018, the MoD told Parliament it held “no information” about blood testing. But after a memo between atomic scientists was discovered in 2022, discussing the “gross irregularity” in the blood of a squadron leader who led planes into the mushroom clouds on sampling missions, the denials fell apart.
Last year the Atomic Weapons Establishment, an arm’s length agency of the MoD, published a list of 150 document titles it confirmed were about blood and urine testing of servicemen from the UK and Australia, as well as civilians and indigenous people whose lands were used for the trials.
It confirmed they were held on a database containing technical data of nuclear weapons, with atomic security classifications and only seven officials with high enough clearance to view them.
It led to veteran’s son Steve Purse, who had been refused access to his father’s records, declaring: “It’s a national cover-up, not a state secret.”
Defence minister Andrew Murrison has promised to personally review the documents by the end of this month, and it is thought this is linked to their now being declassified.
Their release was discovered as a result of questions in the House of Lords by Tom Watson, former deputy leader of the Labour Party.
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