Nuclear study professor gets OBE from Queen after Government dismiss work / General Chatting / Forums

Forums

4hv.org :: Forums :: General Chatting

« Previous topic | Next topic »

Nuclear study professor gets OBE from Queen after Government dismiss work

Move Thread

LAN_403

Proud Mary

Sun Jun 12 2011, 07:56PM

Registered Member #543 Joined: Tue Feb 20 2007, 04:26PM
Location: UK
Posts: 4992

Nuclear study professor gets OBE from Queen after Government dismiss work

by Susie Boniface
Daily Mirror
12/06/2011

A scientist whose research into Britainâ€™s nuclear test veterans was rubbished by the Government has been honoured for his work by the Queen.

Professor Al Rowland led a groundbreaking study which proved men present at the atomic blasts in the 1950s were left with serious genetic Âdamage which could have caused the legacy of cancers and rare diseases they now suffer from.

Faced with a multi-million-pound payout the Ministry of Defence tried to damn his work, insisting the research proved nothing. This has left thousands of vets fighting a lawsuit for compensation. Dozens have died waiting for it to come to court.

But this week Prof Rowland, 65, was told the Queen has given him the equivalent of an OBE in her birthday honours list â€“ for the Âresearch her Government dismissed. He said: â€œThe Âcitation Âspecifically mentions the work on the veterans.

â€œItâ€™s recognition from the establishment that my Âresearch is credible and I hope this honour will add some weight to the veteransâ€™ cause.â€

Prof Rowland, who lives in Palmerston, New Zealand, has been made an Officer of the New Zealand Order of Merit and will receive his medal from the Queenâ€™s Ârepresentative, the Governor-General, later this year.

His pioneering research led the New Zealand government to accept that its men were harmed and they agreed to pay for treatment.

The British Government still denies there is any need.

An MoD spokesman said: â€œWe donâ€™t fully Âaccept the findings.â€

Conundrum

Mon Jun 13 2011, 08:30AM

Registered Member #96 Joined: Thu Feb 09 2006, 05:37PM
Location: CI, Earth
Posts: 4061

Well as we all know the British Government isn't known for being truthful and honest when it comes to mistakes they have made, especially with unfortunate incidents like the Porton Down FMD outbreak caused (IIRC) by faulty filtering in the waste water systems.

Too many good men have been crippled or worse because of excessive secrecy in the name of "national security" which means that the real data on radiation levels at these tests is to this day classified.

I call for all files held on these tests to be made freely available to all, and for the Government to admit full responsibility for their horrible mistakes in the past, with an oath to never test nuclear weapons again and decommission all nuclear weapons they still possess.

-A

Nicko

Mon Jun 13 2011, 09:24AM

Registered Member #1334 Joined: Tue Feb 19 2008, 04:37PM
Location: Nr. London, UK
Posts: 615

Conundrum wrote ...

Well as we all know the British Government isn't known for being truthful and honest when it comes to mistakes they have made, especially with unfortunate incidents like the Porton Down FMD outbreak caused (IIRC) by faulty filtering in the waste water systems.

That wasn't Porton Down, it was in 2007 at the Institute of Animal Health at Pirbright. Porton Down lost a phial of F&M which was reported in 2002, though I'm not sure when it was actually noticed as missing (probably some years before).

Proud Mary

Mon Jun 13 2011, 10:24AM

Registered Member #543 Joined: Tue Feb 20 2007, 04:26PM
Location: UK
Posts: 4992

Andre has confounded Pirbright with what used to be called Chemical Defence Establishment
Porton Down, where 'volunteered' soldiers were used as experimental guinea pigs for organophosphorous nerve agents in 1983.

Porton Down used soldiers for Sarin gas tests in 1983
Daily Telegraph
By Rajeev Syal

12:01AM BST 13 Oct 2002

Servicemen were experimented on with Sarin, the deadly nerve gas, as late as 1983 at the Government's defence research centre at Porton Down, documents seen by The Telegraph reveal.

Previously the Ministry of Defence has admitted to tests involving the nerve agent only during the Fifties and Sixties.

The disclosure is central to a criminal investigation by the police, codenamed Operation Antler, into the activities of scientists at Porton Down in Wiltshire. It will form part of a civil action against the Government by 500 ex-servicemen later this year.

One former soldier who underwent a Sarin test in 1983 alleges that Government scientists assured him that there had never been problems with the nerve agent during previous experiments. He says he was not told that Ronald Maddison, an airman, died minutes after being tested with Sarin in 1953.

Ian Foulkes, 38, who was then a private in the 28th Signal Regiment, said: "I specifically asked them what the long-term implications of taking part in the tests were because I was not happy about it. Of course if they had mentioned what happened to Ronald Maddison I would not have taken part."

Mr Foulkes, then 19, was stationed in Germany when he answered a request for able-bodied servicemen to go for tests at Porton Down.

He believed that this would help his chances of promotion and he also received Â£140 on top of his Â£400-a-month wages.

He and three other volunteers each underwent medical tests in November 1983 - but the other three were tested with Sarin after being given Atropine, an antidote.

Scientists told Mr Foulkes that he would be exposed to the nerve gas without an antidote. Mr Foulkes said he felt that at this stage he could not back out without harming his career.

He was led into a chamber and told to walk around while the gas was administered. "I had tunnel vision, and felt sick. My chest constricted and it was like breathing through a straw. My head ached terribly."

The door finally opened and he was ushered out by scientists wearing respirators and overalls. They completed tests on him, assured him that his health would recover and told him to "go home and wash your uniform".

Mr Foulkes claims that his health steadily deteriorated from that point, although he was able to continue in the Army until 1999.

Today he suffers from respiratory problems and has found it difficult to obtain well-paid work. He is currently a supermarket shelf stacker.

MoD documents seen by this newspaper confirm that Mr Foulkes was tested with Sarin gas and that scientists failed to give him an antidote.

The documents will be revealed in two months, when 500 ex-servicemen launch a writ claiming that they were used as human guinea pigs.

The MoD has admitted that Sarin was used in human experiments during the Fifties and Sixties. It has also conceded that "nerve agent trials" took place until 1988, but has refused to say whether Sarin was involved.

Alan Care, a lawyer with Thomson Snell and Passmore, which is representing Mr Foulkes, said the fact that Sarin was still being used in the Eighties showed wilful negligence by Government employees.

"They should have been well aware of the effects, considering they tested hundreds of veterans in the Fifties and Sixties," he said.

Mr Maddison, 20, died in 1953 after a few drops of liquid Sarin were dropped onto his arm at Porton Down. His family claims that he believed that he was taking part in research into the common cold.

Ten days after his death an inquest took place behind closed doors "in the interest of national security" and delivered a verdict of "death by misadventure". Next month, the Wiltshire coroner will go to the High Court and ask for the inquest to be formally re-opened.

Operation Antler, a two-year inquiry into Porton Down experiments, has investigated more than 2,000 allegations by former servicemen that they were illegally used as human guinea pigs.

Wiltshire police has sent a file to the Crown Prosecution Service alleging that three scientists committed criminal acts. The Medical Research Council has also opened an investigation into the tests.

An MoD spokesman said: "We are aware of suggestions from some Porton Down volunteers that they suffer from unusual patterns of ill health because they participated in experiments.

"The MoD has not seen specific scientific evidence but we take such suggestions seriously. We are co-operating fully with Operation Antler."

Moderator(s): Chris Russell, Noelle, Alex, Tesladownunder, Dave Marshall, Dave Billington, Bjørn, Steve Conner, Wolfram, Kizmo, Mads Barnkob