France Used Its Own Troops as Test Subjects

The French newspaper Le Parisien has recently published a secret French document about French military nuclear tests in Sahara and French Polynesia. The document revealed that the French Army organized a nuclear weapons test in order to study the effects it would have on humans. Unsuspecting French and Foreign Legion soldiers were used as guinea pigs.

April 25, 1961, France began "Gerboise verte" or "green gerboa." The soldiers were ordered to act out a nuclear war scenario.The stated purpose of the nuclear test was to "study the atomic weapon's physiological and psychological effects on man, to obtain elements necessary to prepare them physically and morally for modern combat." 150,000 soldiers participated in the test.

Officials knew about the dangers of using their soldiers as test subjects, but they refused to warn the soldiers. The National Armaments Observatory has said that soldiers were intentionally exposed to radiation and then sent home without further medical check ups.

Mond and Le Parisien newspapers have reported that thousands of the French and Foreign Legion soldiers are now seriously ill, many having incurable diseases, due to the nuclear radiation.

According to the French government, only a mere one third of the test subjects will receive compensation for this obvious violation of human rights.

France conducted similar tests in French Polynesia, mostly at Mururoa Atoll, where 181 explosions were conducted in 1966-98.

Georgy Chikarlein, a former soldier who served at Mururoa Atoll, had this to say:

“The range in French Polynesia was maintained by the soldiers of the Foreign Legion, 'white fish,' as we called ourselves. First, we were ordered to force nearly 2,000 indigenous people out from the atoll. The tests, at least the first ones, were conducted without any safety measures. We were told to throw ourselves on the ground without looking at the flashes. We were wearing standard summer uniform, i.e., shorts. No one told us about any hazards."

France plans to compensate several hundreds of Polynesians in order to avoid conflict with local independence organizations.

Tests were also carried out in Algeria, where officials say radiation near the test site is now 22 times higher than normal.