WARNINGS
Cracks In Moruroa Atoll Confirm Dangers Of Global Nuclear Industry:

Sydney/Suva Wednesday, 05 May, 1999 :
The admission by French authorities that there are fractures in the coral at Moruroa and Fangataufa Atolls throws doubt on many of its other claims about the effects of nuclear testing in French Polynesia.

"After years of secrecy and denials about the environmental impacts of testing, the French Government has had to concede there has been damage to coral,"
said Greenpeace Australia campaigns manager Benedict Southworth.

This week the new director of France's Atomic Energy Commission, Rene Pellet, admitted that there are fractures in the atolls after carrying out an inspection of the two sites.

Greenpeace has condemned the news, revealed in Tahiti, and once again called for an independent scientific investigation of the Moruroa test site.

"Last year the French revealed that plutonium had leaked into the lagoon at Moruroa and one year later they admit to cracks in the coral of the atoll," said Southworth. Meanwhile, French officials continue to maintain that there is no cause for environmental or health concerns in the area.

"Greenpeace's fears about environmental pollution have been upheld. France should commit itself to a complete investigation into the effects on the environment and the workers involved in the tests."

"These new revelations about cracks in the atoll at Moruroa show up huge cracks in the credibility of the French Government," said Southworth.

The news about Moruroa raises serious concerns about radioactive leaks. The French have created a massive nuclear waste dump against the wishes of the people of the South Pacific.

"France has spent years telling the world that its testing program was safe, and now it is taking the community years to uncover the hidden facts that it is not."

Hidden information is typical of many nuclear-related issues - from Moruroa, Le Hague, Sellafield. This latest revelation does not bode well for Australia's nuclear plans for a waste dump in South Australia, and a new reactor at Lucas Heights.

"The nuclear industry and the weapons industry it supports are just too deadly for humanity to play with, and Australia should take heed of these latest revelations from the Pacific," he said.

Between 1966 and 1996 the French Government conducted 193 nuclear bomb tests above and below the atolls of Moruroa and Fangataufa. The last test was conducted on 27 January 1996.

For more info :
Carolin Wenzel 02 9263 0358, 0417 668 95 Carolin.Wenzel@au.greenpeace.org or
Stephen Campbell 02 9263 0351,0419 227 695 Stephen.Campbell@au.greenpeace.org

Additional informations are available at the following links:

http://www.ecsiep.org/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=375&Itemid=27

Another Moruroa nuclear veteran dies of leukaemia in North of Tahiti !

à Moruroa nuclear veteran Alfred Pautehea who was vocal in the nuclear veterans’ plight to have their illness recognised as nuclear-related, has died of leukaemia on 21 February in his island home of Atuona (Marquesas Islands, North of Tahiti). à

Download this article in pdf.

Download this article in full, in pdf.

http://www.ecsiep.org/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=427&Itemid=27

Truth and Justice for the victims of Moruroa

à On the day after Jacques Chirac arrived in Tahiti, over two hundred former workers of Moruroa marched with their families, carrying a huge banner ‘Truth and justice for the victims of Moruroa.’ President of the Association Moruroa e Tatou Roland Oldham said  they want to remind the President of the Republic that although the nuclear tests are over, the consequences of the tests on the health of the former workers unfortunately linger on. “Among the 3359 Polynesian former workers we registered, several hundred have already died – their average age was 51 years – and there are numerous cases of cancers, including a very large number of leukaemia. Very worrying for the families of the former workers is the large number of stillbirths as well as sterility problems,” Oldham said. à

Download this article in pdf.

Download this article in full, in pdf.

http://www.ecsiep.org/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=448&Itemid=90

Polynesians: Nuclear France's Guinea Pigs?

à Ten years ago on September 5, 1995 , the first underground test ordered by Jacques Chirac ignited a social explosion in Tahiti . “Despite the end of the testing, the matter is not settled. Indeed, the 46 atmospheric nuclear experiments carried out over Moruroa and Fangataufa between 1966 and 1974 today represent that many time bombs for the health of the French Polynesian population,” states Bruno Barrillot, director of the CDRPC. This answer is confirmed by the “Cancer du tropique” an investigation broadcast September 9 by Thalassa over the France 3 television channel. à

Download this article in pdf.

Download this article in full, in pdf.

http://www.ecsiep.org/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=472&Itemid=90

- Moruroa e Tatou (français)

à À l’occasion du 35ème anniversaire (2 juillet 2001) du premier essai nucléaire français à Moruroa (2 juillet 1966), les anciens travailleurs polynésiens des sites d’essais nucléaires ont décidé de créer en Polynésie française une association qui portera le nom « Moruroa e tatou » (Moruroa et nous). à

Download this article in pdf.

Download this article in full, in pdf.

http://www.ecsiep.org/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=474&Itemid=90

The legacy of French nuclear testing

à The first test rained dead fish from a lagoon. Others spread radiation through the region. Now, 159 tests later, the French have used up the atolls and the patience of the Polynesians.

1990  pp. 22-31 (vol. 46, no. 02) © 1990 Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists. à

Download this article in pdf.

Download this article in full, in pdf.

http://www.ecsiep.org/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=572&Itemid=90

Scientist study Tahiti cancer risk

à Two international research scientists have been conducting an epidemiological study of the thyroid cancer risk factor in Tahiti that could determine if a high number of such cancer cases are linked to France's former nuclear tests. à

Download this article in pdf.

Download this article in full, in pdf.