[Congressional Record Volume 141, Number 141 (Tuesday, September 12, 1995)]
[House]
[Page H8728]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]


              NUCLEAR BOMBING IN THE SOUTH PACIFIC ISLANDS

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under the Speaker's announced policy of May 
12, 1995, the gentleman from American Samoa [Mr. Faleomavaega] is 
recognized during morning business for 5 minutes.
  (Mr. FALEOMAVAEGA asked and was given permission to revise and extend 
his remarks.)
  Mr. FALEOMAVAEGA. Mr. Speaker, about 150 years ago, by show of 
military force with guns, bullets and cannons, the Government of France 
incorporated into a colony a group of Polynesian islands currently 
known as French Polynesia, with its current capital in the town of 
Papeete and the main island called the island of Tahiti.
  Mr. Speaker, these Polynesian islands were popularized by the famous 
historical novel that was written by Mr. Hall and Mr. Nordoff in the 
early 1930's, and later, a couple of very famous films were based on 
this novel. They are currently known as the Mutiny on the Bounty. As 
you well know, it was a historical fact that a British Naval captain by 
the name of Captain Bly was assigned to go to these islands in the 
South Pacific to bring back a certain fruit called the bread fruit so 
that it could be transferred to the Caribbean to feed the slaves, as it 
was part of the British empire at that time.
  Mr. Speaker, these islands are currently in tremendous turmoil, as 
has been witnessed by the American people and throughout the world, of 
what has happened in the eve of the recent decision made by President 
Chirac in June that the Government of France was going to resume 
nuclear testing in the South Pacific. And the proposed plan by 
President Chirac was that for the 8-month period, once each month the 
Government of France was going to explode one nuclear bomb each up to 
the equivalent of 10 times the power of the bomb that we dropped in 
Hiroshima 50 years ago.
  Mr. Speaker, I am sad to say that this new testing program began a 
couple of days ago and as a result of that, riots broke out in the city 
of Papeete. The main airport was closed and the island of Tahiti was at 
a standstill.
  Now the tremendous uproar, Mr. Speaker. Everybody is pointing fingers 
at everybody. President Chirac recently, by the media, is pointing 
fingers at Australia and New Zealand and other countries for causing 
all these riots to occur. New Zealand and Australia are saying, no, Mr. 
Chirac, you are to blame for this thing that has happened now to the 
people of Papeete and the French Polynesians.
  Mr. Speaker, I don't know if the American people are aware of the 
fact that this is the same situation that occurred in the early 1960's 
when our Government also exploded some of the most powerful nuclear 
bombs the world has ever witnessed in the islands of Micronesia.
  I recall in 1954 we exploded what was known as the bravo shot, in 
which we exploded the first hydrogen bomb that was 50 megatons, and let 
me explain this to the American people and to my colleagues. The power 
of this bomb that we exploded on the island of Bikini was 1,000 times 
more powerful than the bomb that we dropped in Hiroshima. As a result 
of that bomb, 300 men, women and children on the islands of Rongelap 
and Utirik just playing on the ocean floor, not even knowing exactly 
what was happening, and the sad part of this legacy and the story in 
our own country, Mr. Speaker, our officials knew that the winds had 
shifted but they did not stop the detonation of that bomb. And as a 
result of that, as a result of that, these people were directly 
impacted by nuclear contamination because of what we did to them.
  Mr. Speaker, to this day, these people are still suffering, still 
suffering from radioactive contamination, having the highest rates of 
cancer, leukemia. You can call it what you may, but these people are 
still suffering and no amount of money our Government could ever give 
these people will bring
 them back to normal health.

  Mr. Speaker, this is the same problem the people of the Pacific have 
been fighting for years, and by our own admission, by our own 
admission, in 1963 we said, hey, we better not do this any more, it is 
hurting the environment. We conducted some serious atmospheric tests in 
Micronesia, underground, on the ground, under the reefs. We have done 
it and we found out that ecologically it was not suitable, and this is 
the reason why we did these tests now underground in the State of 
Nevada.
  Mr. Speaker, we advised our friends from France, you cannot do this 
in the atolls of these islands in the Pacific Ocean. The Pacific Ocean 
is not a stagnant pool. It is an ocean that constantly moves, like what 
we call the Humboldt Current, and by doing this, our good friend, 
President DeGaulle, said, no, we are going to do it.
  So for the past 20 years, the Government of France has exploded over 
240 nuclear bombs on these islands in French Polynesia, mainly on these 
two atolls known as the Moruroa and the Fangataufa atolls.
  Mr. Speaker, on Moruroa atoll, the Government of France has exploded 
over 163 nuclear bombs; and 8 more nuclear bombs, Mr. Speaker, that 
atoll is going to collapse, and when that contamination comes out of 
that atoll, it is not just the 200,000 French Polynesians that are 
going to be affected by it, but the whole Pacific Ocean.
  Mr. Speaker, somehow we have taken a very passive view of the 
seriousness of the situation, and Mr. Speaker, I ask my colleagues and 
the American people, something has got to be done. President Chirac has 
got to get the message. What he is doing is wrong. It is morally wrong 
and it is time that we stop this madness.

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