American Samoa lawmaker demands new study of French nuclear test fallout

[struggle4progress]

PAGO PAGO : A US lawmaker from American Samoa has called on the UN's nuclear watchdog to conduct a comprehensive new study on the health and environmental effects of France's 30-year nuclear testing program in the South Pacific.

Congressman Eni Faleomavaega said a 1995 survey by the UN's International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) failed to look into the medical condition of French and French Polynesian workers contaminated by tests carried out from 1966 to 1996, and relied on suspect French data for many of its conclusions.

"Over a 30-year period, France exploded some 200 nuclear bombs at Mururoa and Fangataufa atolls in French Polynesia, severely exposing thousands of French military personnel and local Tahitians to nuclear radiation and contamination," Faleomavaega said in a letter to the IAEA

"For some 10,000 native inhabitants of French Polynesia, the devastating effects of the French nuclear testing program in the region are critically important health and environmental concerns," he said in the letter, a copy of which was made available here yesterday. <snip>

http://www.channelnewsasia.com/stories/afp_asiapacific/view/132021/1/.html

[vpigrad]

1. Bushie's attack on France...

is getting a little old.

[The Backlash Cometh]

2. Actually, even the Australians were extremely upset about what

France did. It was out of character for the French. Not the best public relations move.

[struggle4progress]

3. All these lucky islanders should applaud the glorious march of ...

... civilization, as manifested (for example) by the Western hemisphere's sometime habit of exploding nearby atolls and then telling them not to worry about it?