Picture taken in 1971, showing a nuclear explosion in Mururoa atoll. Photo: AFP
A new study on the impact of the French nuclear weapons tests in French Polynesia has found that radiation from them had a minimal role in causing thyroid cancer.
The findings come the French National Institute of Health and Medical Research, which evaluated additional declassified data from the tests at Mururoa, where the French military carried out almost 200 tests.
Updating earlier figures, its researchers say almost seven percent of cancers could be attributed to the tests, which France carried out between 1966 and 1996.
They concluded that the impact was weak but not inexistant.
"In this case-control study of 395 cases and 555 controls, we found that there was no clear association between French nuclear tests and increased risk of DTC (differentiated thyroid carcinoma) in French Polyneisan residents."
"However, the low level of thyroid radiation dose estimates and several inconsistencies in results may limit the interpretability of our results," they said.
"According to current knowledge on radiation-induced thyroid cancer, between 0.6 percent and 7.7 percent of thyroid cancers occurring in inhabitants living in French Polynesia at the time of nuclear tests may have been associated with nuclear tests."
The findings suggest that there is a need for further epidemiological surveillance, which may require a quality cancer registry open to scientific researchers, they added.
In 2010, Paris recognised for the first time that the tests had had an impact on the environment and health, paving the way for compensation.