British veterans get compensation and apology for forcible chemical testing conducted on them!

ENGLAND - January 17, 2008 - The Ministry of Defence has agreed to offer £3 million compensation and an apology to veterans of chemical weapons testing at Porton Down, it has been reported.

The 360 ex-servicemen say they were tricked into taking part in what they thought were cold remedy tests at the research centre in Wiltshire during the 1950s and 60s.

However, many were given forms of the deadly sarin nerve agent developed by the Nazis in the Second World War, and say they have suffered lasting health damage.    

The BBC reported that around 90 per cent of the soldiers have agreed to accept payment of £8,300 each and an apology. But others say the MoD is bullying them by insisting everyone accepts the offer before it releases the funds.

The MoD denies the soldiers have been placed under pressure and says mediation between its solicitors and the veterans is ongoing.

A spokeswoman said: "The Porton Down Veterans are represented by their solicitors who liaise with our solicitors on behalf of the group - there is no question of the MoD putting pressure on the veterans to accept any settlement.

"The issue of whether any mediated settlement would be acceptable to the veterans is entirely a matter between the veterans and their solicitors.

"The parties are engaged in a mediation process which is not yet concluded. The details of which are confidential. It would be inappropriate to comment further at this stage.

"However, at no stage in the mediation process did the MoD offer to make an oral statement to the House of Commons and nor did we withdraw an offer to make an apology."

One of the veterans, Derek Shenton, from Hampshire, told the BBC that although he had accepted the deal, the MoD was still refusing to pay out because others had refused to sign the agreement.

He said: "There was very high pressure to sign - threats basically: 'Take it or leave it'.

"But once the Ministry of Defence got my signature,” said Shenton, “they came back and said 'because there's these various people who have decided to go missing, we are not going to pay you until we have got their signatures'. The whole thing is disgraceful."

The offer follows years of campaigning by the men, many of whom say exposure to the gas left them with skin diseases and psychological problems.

The Ministry of Defence commissioned a review of the experiments after a 2004 inquest ruled that Royal Air Force mechanic Ronald Maddison, who died in 1953, had been unlawfully killed.

The study, led by independent assessor Prof Sir Ian Kennedy said that a small number of trials, aimed mainly at testing enemy nerve gases or other chemical agents, "may not have met the ethical standards required".

However, no experiment, including the sarin trials, "went beyond the limits of what should ever be contemplated, far less tolerated, in a civilized society", the report said.