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03-24-2009, 01:32 AM
France to compensate victims of nuclear testing
24 Mar 2009 02:00:06 GMT
Source: *******
PARIS, March 24 (*******) - The French government will compensate victims of past nuclear tests and has earmarked an initial 10 million euros ($13.6 million) to do so, Defence Minister Herve Morin was quoted as saying on Tuesday. The French state had long refused to officially recognise a link between its testing of nuclear bombs, which ended in 1996, and health complaints reported by both military and civilian staff involved in the tests.
"(French) governments believed for a long time that opening the door to compensation would pose a threat to the very significant efforts made by France to have credible nuclear deterrent," Morin told Le Figaro newspaper. "But it was time for France to be true to its conscience," he said.
France tested nuclear weapons in Algeria between 1960 and 1966, then in French Polynesia in the Pacific Ocean between 1966 and 1996. It conducted a total of 210 tests.Article continued at http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/LN120079.htm
24 Mar 2009 02:00:06 GMT
Source: *******
PARIS, March 24 (*******) - The French government will compensate victims of past nuclear tests and has earmarked an initial 10 million euros ($13.6 million) to do so, Defence Minister Herve Morin was quoted as saying on Tuesday. The French state had long refused to officially recognise a link between its testing of nuclear bombs, which ended in 1996, and health complaints reported by both military and civilian staff involved in the tests.
"(French) governments believed for a long time that opening the door to compensation would pose a threat to the very significant efforts made by France to have credible nuclear deterrent," Morin told Le Figaro newspaper. "But it was time for France to be true to its conscience," he said.
France tested nuclear weapons in Algeria between 1960 and 1966, then in French Polynesia in the Pacific Ocean between 1966 and 1996. It conducted a total of 210 tests.Article continued at http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/LN120079.htm