CURSE OF THE A-BOMB: THE DAMNING DOSSIER: A GENETIC TIMEBOMB

THEY stood on beaches, they lined up on the decks of ships. Fifteen thousand fresh-faced, fit young men, witnesses to Britain joining the nuclear race.

They wore no protective clothing. "Just turn your backs and don't look," they were ordered. So that's just what they did.

Later they were to tell stories of a blinding flash "like a thousand suns" as a huge mushroom cloud filled the sky. They told too of how they could see the bones of their hands, like an X-ray, as they clasped them over their eyes.

Today the terrible legacy of that nuclear explosion can be told in its full shocking, horror by the Sunday Mirror.

We can reveal how generations of British men, women, children and now grandchildren have been condemned to lives of misery, insanity, deformity, riddled with cancer and leukaemia, infertility and long- term illness.

It is a scandal of gigantic proportions. A story of cover-up, betrayal, lies and consistent failure by 14 Governments - including Tony Blair's - to tell the truth of what happened to our nuclear veterans and the effects it had on their children, their children's children and now, incredibly, their great-grandchildren.

Fifty years on from the first nuclear explosion on the Pacific Island of Trimoulle, the Sunday Mirror exposes a terrible roll call of genetic disorders caused by the national servicemen's exposure to the A-bomb tests. In the most exhaustive survey ever undertaken we can reveal:

Leukaemia rates among the grandchildren are SIX times the national average.

The number born with deformities and other crippling diseases is TEN times normal.

And the figure for Down's syndrome is SEVEN times normal.

The figures are based on a sample of 350 veterans of whom 115 reported health problems with their grandchildren - and the list of sufferers recorded down the side of each of these pages makes chilling reading.

In 1957 Norman Callender was 19 years old and a member of the Catering Corps when he was sent to Christmas Island to witness Britain's A-bomb tests in the Pacific. He died last year aged 63 after battling cancer for over 13 years.

His daughter Michelle was born with a heart condition. She had two children after losing her first baby at 26 weeks.

Her son Dylan was born with heart problems. And this year her daughter Louise discovered the baby she was carrying was hideously deformed and had to be aborted - the FOURTH generation to be struck by the curse of the A-bomb.

Last night our findings were described as "alarming" and of "major significance" by leading scientists.

John Urqhuart, a Government adviser on radiation exposure, said: "The Sunday Mirror's research is highly alarming. Urgent research into the long-term effects of radiation, not complacency, is needed now.

"Do we have to wait another generation before we find out if the children, the children's children and beyond, share the same fate?"

Dr Rosalie Bertell, one of the world's leading experts on the genetic effects of radiation who successfully fought the US Government to get American nuclear veterans compensation, added: "The Sunday Mirror's findings are hugely significant and make startling reading. What makes this whole episode so terribly worrying is that these men were exposed to radiation on a scale never seen before."

Professor Sir Joseph Rotblatt, a nuclear physicist who worked on America's first A-bomb and was awarded a Nobel Peace Prize in 1995 for his campaign to rid the world of atomic weapons, said: "No-one has ever done anything like this before.

"These figures should be published and discussed. Your figures, particularly those concerning Down's Syndrome and leukaemias are extremely alarming. One has to be cautious, but they should be examined. It is disturbing."

The Government was warned about the possible genetic effects of radiation long before Britain exploded its first A-bomb on October 3, 1952. In 1946 the Medical Research Council reported: "Radioactivity of all kinds causes an increase in mutation rates in all animals and plants." It went on to warn that "radiation produces genetic effects".

In the early-1960s a nuclear test ban treaty was introduced because of the dangers of fallout worldwide from A-bomb testing. Dr Bertell said: "It follows that the men who were at the tests must have been in considerable danger. They would never be put in the same position today."

Yet the Government continues to refuse to accept its responsibility to the servicemen and their families. Throughout the 1980s Labour MPs condemned the Tory Government for turning a blind eye to the veterans' suffering.

In 1986 Neil Kinnock wrote to Ken McGinley, then chairman of the British Nuclear Tests Veterans' Association, saying: "The next Labour Government, as a matter of urgency and priority, will set up a full judicial inquiry.""

Four years later, Labour MP Bob Clay sponsored a private member's bill calling for compensation for the veterans. Those supporting him included Tony Blair, John Prescott, Margaret Beckett, David Blunkett, Tony Banks, Robin Cook, Donald Dewar, Frank Field, Harriet Harman, Michael Meacher, Mo Mowlam, George Robertson, Clare Short, Jack Straw and Keith Vaz.

But the Bill was "talked out" by Conservative MPs and was later dropped. The A-bomb veterans were understandably angry, but comforted themselves in the belief that when Labour came to power justice would be done.

In 1997 Labour did come to power and Sheila Gray, Secretary of the British Nuclear Tests Veterans' Association, wrote to Tony Blair asking him to fulfil Labour's promises. Two of her letters went unanswered, but on September 10, 1997, she finally got a reply. In his three-page letter Mr Blair said: "Some ex-servicemen who were present at the atmospheric tests are ill. Some have war pensions because their illness, which in some cases includes cancer, is accepted as in some way attributable to their military service." He adds: "You fairly draw attention to my support for Bob Clay's amendment back in 1990. However I have to say that, on the basis of full access to all relevant documentation, it is clear that very few of those present at the tests would have received a measurable radiation dose.""

Last night the Ministry of Defence, in a statement to The Sunday Mirror, repeated its previous position - "that studies have shown no evidence of excess illness or mortality of nuclear test veterans". The veterans themselves are now dying off. Hardly a week goes by when one of the men passes away. Peter Fletcher, who was at Monte Bello, is now in hospital in St Helens suffering from a rare blood cancer. He said: "I'm on my way out, and that is exactly what the Government wants. They are hoping we will all die off so they won't have to pay us compensation.""

Ken McGinley said: "I was rendered sterile by the tests, but I know so many stories about the suffering of children and grandchildren of veterans, that I'm glad I never had a family of my own.

"The Government may have hoped our voice would be silenced. What they never bargained for was the voice of our offspring. Their voices will be heard forever."

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