[Congressional Record Volume 141, Number 113 (Thursday, July 13, 1995)]
[House]
[Pages H7008-H7010]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




     IN OPPOSITION TO FRENCH NUCLEAR TESTING IN THE SOUTH PACIFIC.

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under a previous order of the House, the 
gentleman from American Samoa [Mr. Faleomavaega] is recognized for 5 
minutes.
  Mr. FALEOMAVAEGA. Mr. Speaker, I rise again to protest France's 
intent 

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to resume nuclear testing on French Polynesia's Moruroa and Fangataufa 
coral atolls this September. French President Chirac's decision to 
detonate eight thermonuclear bombs in the South Pacific--one a month, 
with each up to 10 times more powerfull than the bomb that devastated 
Hiroshima--is a crime against nature and a violation of the basic human 
rights of 28 million men, women, and children of the Pacific to live in 
a clean, uncontaminated environment.
  I cannot comprehend how President Chirac can say with a straight face 
that the equivalent of 800 Hiroshima bombs exploding in a short time on 
two tiny coral islands will have no ecological consequences. It doesn't 
take a rocket scientist to know that is pure baloney. I don't buy it, 
and neither does the world.
  After detonating at least 187 nuclear bombs in the fragile marine 
environment of the South Pacific, France's desire to again resume the 
spread of nuclear poison has ignited a firestorm of international 
outrage and protest by the countries of the world.
  Governments around the globe have strongly condemned France's 
decision. Our Nation in addition to Russia, Japan, Germany, Austria, 
Holland, Norway, Sweden, Finland, Belgium, Denmark, Italy, Switzerland, 
The Phillipines, Indonesia, Malaysia, Canada, Chile, Ecuador, Peru, 
Mexico, Australia, New Zealand, Fiji, and the 12 island nations of the 
South Pacific forum, have joined ranks in opposition to France's 
resumption of testing.
  Just yesterday, French President Chirac was jeered by Members of 
Parliament while speaking before the European Union's Assembly. In a 
331-74 vote, the European Parliament condemned France's plans to resume 
nuclear testing, noting that the tests threatened the ecology of the 
South Pacific around Moruroa Atoll, while undermining progress toward a 
global test ban treaty.
  Mr. Speaker, public opinion polls in France have shown that the 
overwhelming majority of the French people--over 70 percent--oppose 
resumption of nuclear testing. There is simply no need to detonate 
nuclear bombs in the South Pacific, as top advisors to former French 
President Mitterand have attested recently that France could obtain 
needed information using computer simulation technology
 offered by the United States. Chirac, however, has cavalierly 
discarded this option in favor of developing an independent French 
simulation technology. Mr. Speaker, this same misplaced arrogance lead 
to the deaths of 300 French hemophiliacs from AIDS because the French 
Government refused to use proven American technology in order to 
develop their own blood test technology.

  Mr. Speaker, in light of how controversial the matter is domestically 
in France, I would issue again an appeal to the world's most revered 
protector of the environment, Jacques Cousteau, to provide leadership 
for the good people of France to force their government to reconsider 
this senseless decision resuming nuclear testing in the Pacific.
  Mr. Speaker, I would also challenge President Chirac on his statement 
that France's nuclear testing program in French Polynesia is harmless 
to the environment and would take him to his offer inviting scientists 
to inspect their testing facilities. If President Chirac is truly 
acting in good faith, then he should have no reservations in 
authorizing full and unrestricted access--before the resumption of 
tests in September--for an international scientific mission to conduct 
a serious independent and comprehensive sampling and geological study 
of Moruroa and Fangataufa Atolls. In conjunction with the monitoring, 
there should be a fully independent epidemiological health survey and 
full disclosure of the French data bases on environmental and health 
effects from nuclear testing.
  Mr. Speaker, if French President Chirac is to be believed, then this 
should be an easy request to meet. Until he responds, however, I would 
urge our colleagues to support House Concurrent Resolution 80, 
legislation I have introduced calling upon the Government of France not 
to resume nuclear testing in the South Pacific.
  Mr. Speaker, in case some of my colleagues may not have seen the 
photo as an example of a nuclear bomb explosion in the South Pacific. I 
want to share with my colleagues--once again--a nuclear explosion that 
took place on the Moruroa Atoll in French Polynesia.
  Mr. Speaker, again a very colorful picture of a nuclear bomb 
explosion--but a very deadly sight on what will happen to the millions 
of fish, whales, dolphins, turtles--and every form of marine life that 
comes in contact with nuclear contamination as a result of the nuclear 
explosion.
  Mr. Speaker, I also want to share with my colleagues a photograph 
showing the President of France--Mr. Chirac--not a popular man among 
his fellow European parliamentarians. Mr. Speaker, President Khol of 
Germany is against French nuclear testing in the Pacific, and so are 
most of the European nations.
  Mr. Speaker, I submit what France is doing she's opening up a whole 
can of worms by encouraging, Mr. Speaker, encouraging nations like 
Iran, Iraq, Pakistan, North Korea and India to reexamine seriously 
their nuclear testing programs since France--as a member of the current 
nuclear family and UN Security Council--simply is telling these 
countries and all others, were going to explode eight more nuclear 
bombs--and if it means subjecting the indigenous tahitians to further 
nuclear contamination--to hell with them. Such arrogance Mr. Speaker!
  Mr. Speaker, I have a deep and abiding respect for all the good 
citizens of France but I am appalled, disappointed, desmayed disgusted 
and simply outraged that the President of France has the mitigated gall 
to order his military people to explode eight more nuclear bombs in 
French Polynesia.
  If there is ever a time--Mr. Speaker--that my Polynesian Tahitians 
cousins have at times described to me--out of utter frustration their 
dealings the men of France who head lead their government, the 
Tahitians would say. ``Farani taioro--Farani taioro!
             [From the Wall Street Journal, July 13, 1995]

            French Nuclear Tests Spark International Protest

                            (By Thomas Kamm)

       Paris.--Protests over France's decision to resume nuclear 
     tests in the South Pacific are spreading, and the 
     repercussions are hitting French companies, too.
       And while the chorus of international protests is rising 
     and calls for a boycott of French products are increasing, 
     President Jacques Chirac is standing firm, denouncing 
     environmental concerns as ``totally irrational with no 
     scientific backing.''
       Political analysts think Mr. Chirac is in a bind. He 
     apparently misperceived the international impact of his 
     decision to resume underground nuclear testing at the French 
     Pacific atoll of Mururoa in September. Now, however, he knows 
     that decision is widely unpopular--though far more so abroad 
     than at home.
       At the same time, with his government under fire at home 
     for its cautious economic approach and with Prime Minister 
     Alain Juppe enmeshed in a scandal over the allotment of 
     public housing, a climb-down on the nuclear issue could badly 
     damage Mr. Chirac's credibility only two months after he took 
     office.
       ``He can't change his mind, because he would look 
     ridiculous,'' says Dominique Moisi, associate director of the 
     French Institute for International Relations. ``But France 
     will be blocked for months on the international scene. Every 
     time the president speaks, there will be protest banners and 
     catcalls.''
       Italian President Oscar Luigi Scalfaro is the latest to 
     join the outcry against the nuclear testing, yesterday urging 
     Mr. Chirac to reconsider his decision. ``Nothing is more 
     intelligent than to listen to other people's beliefs when 
     they are expressed so unanimously,'' he said.
       His comments can one day after Mr. Chirac was loudly booed 
     by left-wing and Green members of the European Parliament 
     during a speech in Strasbourg, France. The Parliament 
     building was bedecked with banners bearing statements such as 
     ``Less arrogance in the Pacific, more courage in Bosnia,'' a 
     reference to the French navy's seizure Sunday of a Greenpeace 
     ship in French waters in the Pacific. Later Mr. Chirac was 
     told by German Chancellor Helmut Kohl that the decision to 
     carry out eight underground nuclear tests had ``provoked 
     violent public reaction in Germany and elsewhere.''
       Meanwhile, calls for a boycott of French products are 
     spreading from Australia and New Zealand to Europe. 
     Yesterday, German, Norwegian and other northern European 
     environmental and political groups called for a boycott of 
     French products.
       Estee Lauder Inc., the U.S. cosmetics company, was 
     concerned enough about a
      boycott in Australia that it issued a statement there 
     stressing that it is not French. ``It has come to our 
     attention that a number of people are under the assumption 
     that the Estee Lauder companies are French in origin. That 
     is certainly not true,'' the cosmetics group said.

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       At least one French company has already been dealt a 
     setback. Lemaitre Securite, a maker of industrial safety 
     shoes, says a licensing deal it signed in March with 
     Austrialia's Dunlop Footwear is on the verge of falling 
     through because its Australian partner says the climate isn't 
     conducive to marketing French products. ``French companies 
     shouldn't pay the price of Tarzan's games,'' says Lemaitre's 
     chairman, Jean-Michel Heckel. Tarzan, he says, is Mr. Chirac.
       His comment reflects a widespread feeling in France that 
     Mr. Chirac's decision was based more on political concerns 
     than military ones. Mr. Chirac says the nuclear tests are 
     necessary to ensure the efficiency and safety of France's 
     weapons stockpiles, but he vows that France will join the 
     U.S., Britain, China and Russia in signing a permanent test 
     ban treaty by Sept. 30, 1996.
       Many analysts believe the Gaullist Mr. Chirac resumed the 
     tests to differentiate himself from his predecessor, 
     Socialist Francois Mitterrand. In the process, he appears to 
     have underestimated the backlash, and his decision, coupled 
     with his tough talk on Bosnia, gives the appearance of 
     grandstanding.

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