French Nuclear Tests In The Pacific

EDM number 342 in 1995-96, proposed by Llew Smith on 25/01/1996.

That this House notes that in the Answer to the honourable Member for Blaenau Gwent, Official Report, 10th July 1995, column 394, by the Minister of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, the honourable Member for Boothferry was told that 'President Chirac has given an assurance that the planned nuclear tests will not cause any harm to the environment' and that 'the French Government has not provided the United Kingdom with environmental impact assessments of its previous tests in the South Pacific'; is alarmed at the admission by the French Government on 23rd January that there have been leaks into the Mururoa Atoll nuclear test site of radioactive iodine 131 from the tests; believes this contamination proves that pathways exist for the uncontrolled venting of materials to the Pacific Ocean; therefore calls upon the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs to instruct Mr Leon Salt who is supposed to represent the interests of the residents of the British Protectorate of Pitcairn Island, only 600 miles from Mururoa, from the Pitcairn Islands Administrative Office at the British Consulate in Auckland, to do his job properly and demand a full explanation from the French military authorities in Mururoa of the leak and risk to Pitcairn islanders; and demands a halt to any further tests.

This motion has been signed by a total of 61 MPs.