3 Jul 2009

Moruroa e Tatou President says compo bill passed by French Assembly is not fair

7:56 am on 3 July 2009

The president of Moruroa e Tatou nuclear test veterans association, Roland Oldham, says the compensation bill passed this week by the French National Assembly is not fair for the victims.

The bill aims at compensating veterans whose health has been affected by nuclear weapons tests in French Polynesia and Algeria between 1960 and 1996.

Mr Oldham says there have been 302 fallout clouds in French Polynesia, but the bill doesn't apply to the whole area affected.

He also says workers who developed thyroid cancers won't be entitled to compensation.

"For us, this law is just not justice for our people. This law is all controlled by the French ministry of defence, and it's not independent at all"

Roland Oldham.