French Officials Ran Campaign to Counter Research into Nuclear Tests Contamination

France's atomic energy commission has spent tens of thousands of euros to counter research revealing that Paris consistently underestimated the devastating impact of its nuclear tests in the 1960s and 1970s.

- Jon Henley

Days before a parliamentary inquiry presents its report on the tests, documents obtained by the investigative outlet Disclose, and seen by Le Monde and the Guardian, suggest the commission ran a campaign to discredit the revelations.

A 2021 book, Toxique, which drew on 2,000 pages of declassified material and dozens of interviews, concluded the tests contaminated many more people than France had acknowledged. A year after the book's publication, the commission distributed copies of a booklet - Nuclear tests in French Polynesia: why, how and with what consequences?

As part of an operation costing more than €90,000 (£75,000), it also flew a team by business class to French Polynesia to meet dignitaries and give media interviews.