Results showed a significant excess risk of leukaemia and also multiple myeloma.
Some 21,000 personnel were located in MoD records as having taken part in the tests between 19 and these were matched with service controls by the MoD. In 1983, the Ministry of Defence (MoD) commissioned the UK National Radiological Protection Board (NRPB) in response to claims that the veterans were suffering radiation-related ill health.
The veterans themselves have been the subject of a series of epidemiological studies. The question of the health consequences of these exposures has been a matter of some debate and is currently part of legal cases before the Royal Courts of Justice for which one of us (CB) was and is involved as an expert. The UK conducted Nuclear atmospheric weapons tests at Christmas Island (now Kiribati) and Malden Island in the Pacific and in Australia between 19 there were clean-up operations until 1967. The effect remains highly statistically significant even assuming a high selection bias in the responses and credibility is strengthened by the high rates of miscarriage reported by the veterans compared with controls, a result which could hardly have been due selection effects. Whilst caution must be exercised due to structural problems inherent in this study we conclude that the veterans? offspring qualitatively exhibit a prevalence of congenital conditions significantly greater than that of controls and also that of the general population in England. There was significantly more cancer in the veteran grandchildren than controls. For grandchildren, similar levels of congenital illness were reported with 46 veteran grandchildren compared with 3 controls OR=8.35 (2.48, 33.8) p=0.000025.
3 control children (OR=9.77 (2.92, 39.3) p=0.000003) these rates being also about 8 times those expected on the basis of UK EUROCAT data for 1980?-2000. 57 veteran children had congenital conditions vs. Perinatal mortality OR was 4.3 (1.22, 17.9 p=.01) on 25 deaths in veteran children. Based on 605 veteran children and 749 grandchildren compared with 311 control children and 408 control grandchildren there were significant excess levels of miscarriages, stillbirths, infant mortality and congenital illnesses in the veterans? children relative both to control children and expected numbers. Results were compared with a veteran-selected control group and also with national data. A postal questionnaire case-control study examined miscarriage in wives and congenital conditions in offspring of the 2007 membership of the British Nuclear Test Veterans Association, a group of ex-servicemen who were stationed at atmospheric nuclear weapon test sites between 1952-67.
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