2,400 tests and 4 million deaths… Shocking stories of survivors of nuclear tests

Victims of nuclear tests

But a new report issued by the humanitarian organization Norwegian People’s Aid (NPA), and obtained exclusively by Agence France-Presse, details how the effects of previous tests are still being felt around the world.

Hinamuera Cross, a Tahitian parliamentarian, says: She is 37 years old and was seven when France conducted its last nuclear test near her home in French Polynesia in 1996. "They poisoned us"

Seventeen years later, she was diagnosed with leukemia after her grandmother, mother, and aunt suffered from thyroid cancer.

Severe Damage

It is known that these bombings caused serious, continuing, and widespread damage to human health, communities, and ecosystems.

However, the Norwegian organization’s 304-page report shows how a continuing culture of secrecy, coupled with weak international engagement and scarcity of data, Many affected communities were left scrambling for answers.

The head of the organization, Raymond Johannes, said: "Previous nuclear tests still kill now"He expressed his hope that the report would be strengthened "Determination to prevent the conduct of nuclear tests or resorting to them again"

This issue gained renewed importance after US President Donald Trump hinted last November that Washington could resume nuclear testing, accusing Russia and China of doing so, which both countries denied.

The period of nuclear testing

Ivana Hughes, lecturer in chemistry at Columbia University and president of the Peace in the Nuclear Age Foundation, who contributed to the Norwegian organization’s report, warned that "This is extremely dangerous"

She added: "The period of nuclear testing shows us that its consequences are long-term and very serious"

The communities close to the sites of those tests were the most affected, and today they are distributed among 15 different countries, including many former colonies of nuclear states.

The survivors there still face high rates of diseases, congenital deformities and psychological trauma, and the impact is being felt worldwide.

Radioactive isotopes from nuclear tests in the bones

Magdalena Stawkowski said. Professor of Anthropology at the University of South Carolina and co-author of the report, N "Every human alive today carries radioactive isotopes from nuclear testing in their bones"

The report indicated the death of hundreds of thousands of people around the world as a result of diseases related to the explosions of previous nuclear tests.

The report pointed out that there is strong scientific evidence linking exposure to radiation to DNA damage, cancer, cardiovascular disease, and genetic effects, even when exposed to small amounts.

Tilman Ruff, one of the report’s authors, told Agence France-Presse: "The risks of radiation are much greater than previously thought"

2 million additional deaths

Atmospheric testing alone, conducted until 1980, is expected to cause over time at least two million additional deaths from cancer.

It is also expected that Ruff, a fellow in public health at the University of Melbourne and co-founder of the International Campaign to Ban Nuclear Weapons, winner of the Nobel Peace Prize in 2017 "Recording the same number of additional premature deaths from heart attacks and strokes"

He said that ionizing radiation, that is, particles that are capable of breaking the bonds in the DNA inside the cells and turning them into cancer cells, "Extremely biologically harmful"

There is no minimum level of radiation at which no effects appear, and the risks vary from one person to another, as fetuses and children are more affected, and girls and women are 52% more susceptible to the cancer-causing effects of radiation compared to boys and men.

Effects classified as secret

The Norwegian organization’s report documented a continuing approach of secrecy among countries that conducted nuclear tests.

For example, in Kiribati For example, studies conducted by Britain and the United States on the health and environmental effects are still classified, which prevents the victims from knowing what they were exposed to.

In Algeria, the exact locations where France buried radioactive waste after its experiments there are still unknown, according to the report.

None of the nuclear countries have apologized for the tests, and even in cases where they later acknowledged the damage, the report indicated that compensation programs often "It is limited to limiting liability and not helping victims in good faith"

At the same time, local communities often lack adequate health care and medical examinations, as well as basic awareness of the risks, leaving people ignorant of the risks and how to protect themselves.

Stawkowski said. "The damage is underestimated, is not adequately communicated to people, and is not treated appropriately"

Leukemia

When the Tahitian Cross was diagnosed with leukemia at the age of 24, it was not attributed to the nuclear explosions carried out in French Polynesia decades earlier.

She said: "French propaganda was very strong"She added that she had only learned in school about the positive economic impact of the experiments on the islands of France in the South Pacific.

She was later shocked to learn that France had carried out 193 bombings in French Polynesia between 1966 and 1996, not just a few. "Experiments" Harmless.

The largest of these explosions was about 200 times more powerful than the bomb that the United States dropped on Hiroshima in 1945.

She said "These were not just experiments, they were real bombs"considering that its citizens were treated as"Lab rats" For decades.

Great Difficulties

And other communities close to nuclear test sites faced great difficulties.

Hughes referred to the consequences of the American Bravo test, which had a power of 15 megatons in Bikini Atoll in the Marshall Islands on March 1, 1954, which he described as "A thousand bombs are equivalent to Hiroshima, a disaster by all standards"

That experiment led to the evaporation of an entire island, exposing thousands of nearby residents to radioactive contamination.

Responsibility of Nuclear States

Hughes said that Rongelap, which is about 120 kilometers from Bikini, witnessed "The coral rings turned into steam mixed with radioactive isotopes that fell on the island from the sky, and the children thought it was snow."

The report criticized the international response "The meager" For this problem, he particularly highlighted the responsibility of nuclear states to intensify efforts to assess needs, assist victims, and clean up contaminated environments.

Cross said: "We want to understand what happened to us…we want to recover from this trauma".