101 east
101 East

Trouble in paradise

Are residents of French Polynesia facing the effects of decades of nuclear tests?

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Local activists say the incidence of thyroid cancer is
four times higher than the international average

Is nuclear fallout harmless? The French government believes that, in some circumstances, it is. 

Those circumstances centre on three decades of nuclear weapons testing in the remote southern Pacific Ocean islands of French Polynesia.
 
Paris maintains that the level of radiation generated during testing is too low to have any health implications.  

But local activists say the incidence of thyroid cancer in the area is four times higher than the international average. Others on the island paradise, meanwhile, say the nuclear testing has brought nothing but prosperity.
 
101 East with Teymoor Nabili takes a look back and at what lies ahead for the territory’s residents. 

Roland Oldham, who heads a group of former test-site workers, researcher Nic Maclellan, co-author of After Moruroa: France in the South Pacific and Patrice De Beer, the former editor of French newspaper Le Monde, join the show.

101 East airs at 16:30GMT every Thursday on Al Jazeera English and is repeated during the week

This episode of 101 East aired from 28 June 2007

Watch Part One here:

Watch Part Two here:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J8gPABnVDr8


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