NUCLEAR GUINEA PIGS

A documentary about the involvement of NZ navy personnel in the British nuclear testing programme at Christmas Island in 1957. The 551 crew members of the frigates HMNZS Pukaki & Rotoiti were deliberately exposed to the blasts and radiation fall out. Today, only 169 of them are still alive. Records show that veterans experienced high rates of rare cancers and their children high rates of genetic abnormalities. Some of the few survivors tell their stories. Also interviewed are widows, anti -nuclear campaigners, radiation and cancer risk experts, a nuclear physicist, a medical researcher and historians.