The Ministry of Defence has admitted it ran an "extensive" programme of blood and urine tests on servicemen posted to nuclear weapons tests. In a bid to limit publicity, it published the results of a two-year review into the Nuked Blood Scandal as England prepared to face Argentina in the World Cup.
Review Details and Omissions
The review, stripped of recommendations for compensation discussed with campaigners, was slipped out in a written statement by Veterans Minister Calvin Bailey despite pleas from MPs for a Commons debate. The shocking contents, which vindicate nuclear veterans' testimony and the Mirror's 40-year reporting, will be covered in full in tomorrow's Mirror.
The publication comes two years after the review was ordered by former Defence Secretary John Healey, and four years after orders for blood testing were first reported by the Mirror. The scandal blew open in 2022 with a memo about blood tests on Squadron Leader Terry Gledhill, who served as 'sniff boss' on repeated RAF missions through mushroom clouds.
Scope of the Testing Program
The discovery led to revelations of repeated blood test orders for thousands of men from all three armed forces at four different locations for over a decade. Britain carried out 45 nuclear weapon explosions and nearly 600 explosive radioactive experiments in the Australian Outback between 1952 and 1967. The MoD admitted the blood testing information was held at the Atomic Weapons Establishment on the Merlin database; when the government changed in 2024, Labour ordered its declassification. The formerly-classified documents are now being catalogued by the University of Liverpool.
Legal and Campaign Efforts
The evidence supports a legal case by veterans, backed by a crowdfunder, seeking access to their medical records. The review found that records were ordered for thousands of servicemen, but some were not tested when they should have been, others were tested but records lost, and some were intentionally destroyed. In a devastating admission, the review found that applying for a war pension meant a veteran's medical records were removed and not returned; some were later destroyed with falsified dates of birth to make them appear no longer required.
Campaigners have met with incoming Prime Minister Andy Burnham, who promised an "end to the culture of cover-up" and demanded a one-year special tribunal for the veterans to uncover the truth.
