[Congressional Record Volume 141, Number 193 (Wednesday, December 6, 1995)]
[House]
[Pages H14139-H14140]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                              {time}  1900
               CONTINUED NUCLEAR BOMBING IN SOUTH PACIFIC

  The SPEAKER pro tempore (Mr. Ensign). Under a previous order of the 
House, the gentleman from American Samoa [Mr. Faleomavaega] is 
recognized for 5 minutes.
  Mr. FALEOMAVAEGA. Mr. Speaker, this may sound like a broken record, 
but it is not, when it involves the lives of millions of men, women, 
and children who live in the Pacific region. The crisis may even impact 
the lives of millions of Americans who live in the State of Hawaii and 
the Pacific Coast States like Washington, Oregon, and California.
  Mr. Speaker, some of my colleagues are not aware of the fact that 
after our Government, that is, the United States Government conducted 
approximately 106 nuclear bomb explosions in the Marshall Islands in 
the Pacific region--yes, this was a period when we were at the height 
of cold war era between our country and the former Soviet Union--yes, 
our Government proceeded to conduct one of the most comprehensive 
nuclear testing programs ever recorded in history, and our national 
security as well as the security of the free nations of the world was 
at risk--so, we conducted these nuclear bomb explosions so that our 
nuclear capability would never be undermined by the former Soviet 
Union. We exploded nuclear bombs in the atmosphere, on the Earth's 
surface, beneath the Earth's surface, and yes, even on and under the 
Atoll Islands of the Marshall Islands--we did such a good job we 
even arranged to destroy one of the islands whereby it just simply 
disappeared from the face of the Earth--gone, no more in existence. 
Some of these islands, 60 to 28, Mr. Speaker, to this day are not fit 
for human resettlement because of the high degree of nuclear 
contamination still in existence.

  Now just remember, Mr. Speaker, the former Soviet Union was also 
aggressively pursuing a nuclear testing program--and the Soviets were 
also exploding nuclear bombs in the atmosphere and on and below the 
Earth's surface.
  Well, something happened Mr. Speaker. Not only protects foreign 
countries around the world, but the fact was that in some of the 
nuclear explosions that were conducted in the atmosphere--the winds and 
cloud formations shifted and carried nuclear contamination to various 
regions of the world--and in doing so, scientists discovered the 
presence of strontium 90 in milk and related products--yes, also 
consumed by Americans.

[[Page H 14140]]

  So at the height of the cold war, the two major superpowers of the 
world decided to agree not to conduct any more nuclear tests in the 
atmosphere because of the dangers of nuclear contamination of the food 
cycle to Americans, Russians--and incidently, to other human beings who 
live in various regions of the world.
  Incidently, Mr. Speaker, I do not know if my colleagues are aware of 
the fact that despite our earnest efforts to advise President de Gaulle 
of France of the dangers of conducting nuclear explosions in the 
atmosphere--the French went right ahead and exploded 12 nuclear bombs 
in the atmosphere in the South Pacific.
  And is it any wonder, Mr. Speaker, that the thousands of Polynesian 
Tahitians who were exposed to nuclear contamination in the sixties and 
throughout the seventies--many are coming forward with stories of 
retarded and deformed children coming from the same parents, who 
historically have never experienced such traumatic problems in their 
lives.
  It is any wonder, Mr. Speaker, that the French Government either 
simply threw such records away or just doesn't care about the health of 
its own citizens--some 200,000 French citizens who live 14,000 miles 
from Paris and the first to be exposed to nuclear contamination when 
this atoll breaks open, that is, the Moruroa Atoll in French Polynesia.
  Mr. Speaker, I'm not much of an artist, but I want to share with my 
colleagues the potential horrors of Moruroa Atoll. When this atoll 
leaks radioactive materials, I fear very much that the health and 
safety of the peoples of the Pacific will be seriously at risk.
  Mr. Speaker, again I say to the French Government--shame on you for 
bringing the horrors of nuclear contamination to the peoples of the 
Pacific.

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