Woman blames nuclear tests for her health issues

'FAMILIES OF VETERANS ARE SUFFERING'

- DANIEL CLARK

A WOMAN from Devon who blames her string of health issues on her father’s exposure to nuclear tests carried out by the British military during the 1950s said veterans and their offspring are “living under a mushroom cloud”.

Susan Musselwhite, 44, was born with Duane syndrome, which causes her eyes to move independently. She later developed polycystic ovary syndrome in 2000, Graves’ disease in 2014, chronic migraines in 2016 and finally a functional neurological disorder in 2023.

Over the years, Susan, who said she has found herself in hospitals more than an exhausting 70 times, once every six weeks on average, believed her poor health was perhaps just a series of unfortunate events.

However, when she discovered that her estranged father, Derek, who succumbed to cancer in 2004, served in the Royal Navy during Operation Grapple – a series of British nuclear weapons tests executed in the Pacific in the late 1950s – Susan started to draw possible connections.

Susan, who has connected with other nuclear test veterans and their descendants through the British Nuclear Test Veterans Association, is now certain that her father’s exposure to radiation is at the root of her health problems.

On March 19, 2024, UK veterans and their next-of-kin, including Susan, issued a “letter before action” to the Ministry of Defence (MoD), demanding access to medical records and the establishment of a special tribunal to expedite the investigation, compensation, and recognition of alleged victims.