Ministry of Defence chiefs have told Britain's nuclear veterans they were SAFER watching A-bombs being tested than they were if they had stayed at home.
The unbelievable claim comes as the Government faces a multi-million-pound demand for compensation.
It is part of a 25-page dossier which is expected to form the backbone of the MoD's defence against 700 veterans of the 1957-62 Christmas Island tests who are taking them to court.
But it has been met with astonishment by politicians, scientists and vets who have watched the frightening toll of cancers, miscarriages and genetic illnesses strike them, their children and grandchildren.
Dr Ian Gibson, a Labour MP fighting for the vets, said: "It is absolute nonsense and plainly the most astonishing bit of socalled science I've ever heard of."
Ken Moses, an 18-year-old REME lance corporal at the time, was sent the dossier by the MoD in response to letters he wrote about how he has since suffered stomach ulcers, gastric bleeding and blood disorders.
He said: "The entire report is tosh. What hurts most is that it's our own Government doing this to us."
Ken McGinley, of the British Nuclear Test Veterans' Association, said: "They're trying to tell us black is white - but we will have our day in court and they won't be able to deny us any more."
The most extraordinary claim is that if the vets had stayed in Britain rather than been used as guinea pigs on the south Pacific atoll, they would have suffered THREE times as much radiation from gases omitted by granite rocks and the atmosphere.
The dossier states: "If personnel who served at Christmas Island at that time had been stationed in the UK... their dose of naturally occurring ionising radiation would have been three times greater."
22,000 servicemen were forced to watch the tests...while top brass and scientists were kept a safe distance away.Other countries have since admitted liability and paid compensation. Dr Gibson said:
"If our men ran no risk, how come the Canadians, Americans, Australians, New Zealanders and Russians all recognise there was a risk? To say they were irradiated and our men weren't is madness."
Radiation expert Dr Mark Little, of Imperial College London, damned the MoD's science. He said that even people on the other side of the world received small doses from the six British tests.
Independent environmental consultant Prof Chris Rhodes said background radiation in Britain is "pretty harmless" compared to nuclear bombs.
Two other claims from the MoD report have also been met with incredulity - one that officials checked the wind was blowing in the right direction before conducting the tests; the other that men were given adequate protective clothing.
Naval charts show the wind was not blowing away from the atoll, according to able seaman Derek Fiddaman, who went on to develop rare skin cancers.
He said: "I plotted the position of the ship at the point the bomb was dropped - and the wind was from the east." The claim that protective clothing was worn is also debunked by the hundreds of veterans who have told how they were told simply to tuck their trousers into their socks and cover their eyes to protect them from the flash.
They ate fish caught from the sea, and drank rainwater they caught on tarpaulins - all of it highly likely to be radioactive.
Dr Gibson said: "Not long ago the MoD admitted there was a risk and that the veterans' conditions needed serious scientific investigation. This looks like a complete U-turn."
Radiation
Background: Granite has pockets of radon gas which, if inhaled, can cause lung cancer. Most common in Scotland and Cornwall.
A-BOMB: X-rays can pass through body and, in high doses, can damage DNA, causing cancers, ulcers and serious genetic harm.
WHAT GOVERNMENT 'FACT SHEET' TO VETERANS CLAIMS
Test vets were three times safer on Christmas Island than at home because there was LESS radiation there.
All the men had protective clothing and were kept away from danger areas.
The wind was blowing the toxic fallout dust away from the men taking part.
Radiation killed my husband
By Susie Boniface
Just six weeks ago Alan Simpson was looking forward to spending his retirement with wife Sue and their grandchildren.
But a trip to the doctor for a minor ailment turned into a diagnosis of terminal liver cancer - and Alan, 69, died a fortnight later.
Now his family have been told his death could be down to his service on Christmas Island in 1958, when Britain exploded five nuclear bombs.
"It was so quick we're all still in shock," said Mrs Simpson, 60, of Sawston, Cambs. "The doctors said it could have been down to toxic chemicals - and we both thought it must have been his time on Christmas Island." Alan, who was in the Royal Engineers, went on to develop a painful rash all over his body which came back throughout his life.
Mrs Simpson also revealed how she'd had four miscarriages, her first son had a muscle-wasting condition, her second son had eczema and her grandchildren also had health problems.
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