SO CLOSE: The man holding the rope as this nuclear bomb explodes in 1957 is Michael Murphy.

Michael Murphy - just 21 when he watched three nuclear tests 32km away from the deck of the British navy ship he was serving on - fears radiation might have caused a rare genetic defect in his granddaughter.



Debate on the health effects has been reignited by news that the High Court in London has dismissed a case involving more than 1000 Kiwi, British and Fijian nuclear test veterans who are seeking compensation for radiation damage.

Murphy is disappointed but says the decision is likely to be appealed.

The Takapuna resident, now 74, was one of more than 550 New Zealanders who observed the nine tests from 1957 to 1958 from HMNZS Pukaki and Rotoiti.

MICHAEL MURPHY: Wonders if his granddaughter's rare genetic disease might be caused by radiation from the Pacific nuclear tests.

The sailors were told to sit down, close their eyes, and cover them with their hands.

Murphy saw a flash and the bones in his hands.

He saw the first three as part of Britain's Operation Grapple nuclear testing programme in the Pacific.

Murphy says Kiwi sailors served the New Zealand government and deserve better.

"They used us as mercenary guinea pigs for the UK government."

He said a former politician told him people were waiting for everyone involved in the tests to die so the problem would go away. He said that just makes him want to live.

His granddaughter has a rare genetic defect, Turner's Syndrome, that severely stunts her growth and he wonders whether it is related to his exposure to radiation.

Murphy says it's hard to say whether there is a link but it's possible.



He is amazed that only one veteran out of the 1100 was told he was entitled to seek compensation.

"How do they pick one case?" he says.



No one worried about radiation but questions were asked when veterans started dying far too young. Murphy has reasonably good health but says some men have died of cancers in their 40s and 50s.



Massey University research has connected New Zealand sailors' attendance at the nuclear tests to genetic damage and high counts of rare chromosomal abnormalities.



The New Zealand government hasn't compensated veterans but its previous Labour counterpart contributed to the British court case.