Veterans take nuclear cancer claims to UK Supreme Court

London, July 30, IRNA – Veterans of Britain's 1950s nuclear bomb tests in the Pacific Ocean and Australia have won a judicial review to take their claims for compensation to the UK's Supreme Court.

The Ministry of Defence has consistently denied liability for illness among veterans on the grounds of time limitation, but in a significant victory on Thursday the Supreme Court overturned a ruling that nine out of 10 lead cases in the action had been brought beyond the legal time limit.

Lawyers for 1,011 former servicemen can now take their legal action to the next court stage, providing evidence that the veterans' ill-health - including cancer, skin defects and fertility problems - were related to the tests.

Granting permission to appeal, Lord Phillips, president of the supreme court, cautioned hopes, saying he wanted to emphasise that “this is only an application for permission to appeal, and the court would not wish to raise false optimism in what are obviously very difficult cases.'

But lawyers welcomed the decision as another step along a “long road to achieve justice,” while warning that by the time the Supreme Court holds a full hearing, perhaps within a year, another “30 or 40 veterans could have died.”

Former servicemen seeking compensation are normally required to register any claim within three years of becoming ill, but arguments included that other countries had far less restrictive compensation schemes for those exposed to radiation from nuclear trials./end