A study has found that nuclear test veterans have double the normal rate of psychological stress - and the only thing to alleviate their suffering could be official government recognition.
Brunel University discovered 34% of those who survived Britain’s Cold War radiation experiments have anxiety, compared to a normal rate of 15% for men of their age.
A survey and interviews by the Centre for Health Effects of Radiological and Chemical Agents found that most of the veterans report becoming anxious in the mid-1980s, when evidence first emerged of cancers, rare blood disorders, miscarriages in wives and birth defects in their children.
George Collett, who led the study, said veterans’ psychological stress included worry about the health of their grandchildren, as well as guilt.
“This notion of responsibility was evident in those who had descendants surviving with serious health conditions, but also applied to their wives with health conditions,” said Collett.
“There could be further psychological impact, on top of what might be normally expected, resulting from the veterans’ perceived responsibility and subsequent guilt relating to their family members' health.”
The study found veterans blamed themselves for their families’ problems, but felt “the powers that be” bore moral responsibility for them.
Some “expressed strong feelings of anger and frustration about the perceived role of authorities”, said researchers.
Veteran associations were found to be “an effective coping system” but the most widely-reported topic among test veterans was the lack of official recognition of their service and subsequent suffering.
The study states: “The perceived negligence, or deception in some cases, and the perceived reluctance for authorities to recognise such negligence or deception, may further exacerbate any psychological impact.”
The study reported the men felt the solution to their mental stress was formal acknowledgement of the danger and importance of the testing programme, and the appreciation that something like a medal could symbolise.
It says that "for some, recognition meant acknowledgement for their service, while for others it meant admitting negligence and, in some cases, deception".
Researchers said veterans did not necessarily need something they could touch, "but what was important was what the medal symbolised, which is gratitude for participating in the testing programme". They added: "It was important to veterans that the UK government acknowledges and accepts that the nuclear testing programme occurred, and for some, that veterans were adversely affected by ionising radiation exposure."
One, unnamed, veteran told the study: "It would be nice to have a medal because we've served our country probably as much as some of the people in the minor infringements that went on. But having said that, all I want is the British government to say 'yes we accept that'. And the families around, perhaps give them a widow's pension so that they look after the families that are suffering because of it."
The Mirror has campaigned for justice for the veterans since 1983, and has reported on mounting evidence of deliberate exposure to radiation.
But the Ministry of Defence has spent millions fighting court cases and still refuses 90 per cent of all war pensions by test veterans.
Last year a medal review, won by the Mirror, refused a gong on the basis there was not enough “risk and rigour” to service at the tests. The official denials now appear to have taken a long-term toll on the veterans’ mental health.
Earlier this year we called on leading politicians to meet the veterans and “look them in the eye” to hear what had befallen them, and explain why they did not deserve official recognition.
Labour leader Keir Starmer met them in July, and last week Prime Minister Boris Johnson promised to do the same.
The CHRC which conducted the research is jointly funded by Brunel University and nuclear test veterans themselves, through the Nuclear Community Charity Fund, established by David Cameron in 2014 using fines levied on banks involved in the Libor rate-fixing scandal.
