posted 08-16-2001 01:46 PM            

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German soldiers 'died after microwave exposure'
By Imre Karacs in Berlin
18 July 2001
Despite not going to war for more than half a century, Germany's army did sustain casualties in peace time – and the death or maiming of hundreds of soldiers by wanton negligence is only now coming to light.

Amid reports that at least 58 servicemen have already died after being exposed to X-rays and microwave radiation while manning radar installations, a group of veterans threatened yesterday to sue the German government.

The Defence Ministry, at first denying the scale of a cancer epidemic in the ranks, later conceded that more than 300 servicemen have filed compensation claims, but only six cases have been approved. The ministry said its own figures on fatalities were "uncertain".

A veterans' organisation says it has been contacted by more than 300 soldiers who used to work at radar installations in the 1960s and 1970s. An official report published last month established that technicians and other soldiers had not been adequately shielded from radiation, even though the harmful effects were already common knowledge.

Reiner Geulen, a lawyer representing the victims, said the army – the Bundeswehr – only introduced the necessary safety measures in the 1980s. "The servicemen were irradiated for 25 years," Mr Geulen declared.

According to the organisation representing radar victims, more than 300 former soldiers have reported injuries caused by radiation. Of these, 158 "watertight" cases have been diagnosed, including 31 cases of leukaemia, 25 testicular cancers and 22 brain tumours.

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