France to study nuclear test veterans

8:14 am on 27 December 2017

Reports from French Polynesia say the French government will launch an epidemiological study of 21,000 nuclear test veterans.

A gathering in 2016 in Papeete to commemorate the 50th anniversary of the first nuclear test carried out in Moruroa on July 2, 1966.

A gathering in 2016 in Papeete to commemorate the 50th anniversary of the first nuclear test carried out in Moruroa on July 2, 1966. Photo: AFP or licensors

According to Radio1 in Tahiti, the defence ministry will test all those whose exposure to radiation was measured between 1966 and 1996 - the period during which France tested 193 atomic bombs.

The study is to update the findings of two previous studies into mortality and morbidity.

The first found that by the end of 2008 more than 5,500 had died.

The study of the remaining 21,000 veterans is to help improve assessing their health care risks.

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