Nuclear veterans sue the UK government over 'missing medical records'

Nuclear testing veterans from have launched legal battle with British government over 'missing medical records'.

They will sue the Ministry of Defence for blood records taken during atomic weapons tests and which have been hidden ever since, The Mirror reports. The result is seven decades of anguish as veteran families suffer high rates of cancer, miscarriage and birth defects, without explanation or cure, it is alleged.

The Mirror has uncovered 150 documents, covering half a century, about blood testing of UK and Commonwealth servicemen, civilians and indigenous people. Last week, a minister told Parliament the MoD held no blood records.

Veteran John Morris, 86, from Rochdale, said: “I’ll fight for justice until I die. They need to give us the bloody truth.” Survivors and families of servicemen used in the nuclear testing programme are being joined by Australian veterans and Aboriginal Peoples to demand the Ministry of Defence release blood tests it took from them during Cold War radiation experiments.

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The Mirror, which first reported on the issue in November last year, reports it has uncovered proof of hundreds of documents about blood tests that are withheld at the Atomic Weapons Establishment, an agency of the MoD.

Last week defence minister Andrew Morrison, asked to explain why veterans' medical files were missing, told the House of Commons: “We of course do everything we can to locate records when people request them, and... we could find none on this occasion.” A day later The Mirror uncovered a cache of 150 documents discussing blood counts at a dozen different tests,