15. Nuclear Testing in the South Pacific
With the advent of the nuclear age and the Cold War, the United States was keen on carrying out extensive testing of atomic weapons. One challenge was in determining where to carry out the tests, seeing as there was no need to unleash lethal radiation within the United States. The territory was outsourced to the Pacific Islands, an area of tiny nations that had been struggling to assert autonomy and self-determination in a postcolonial world. Over 300 nuclear tests were conducted in the Pacific Islands and Australia – dubbed the Pacific Proving Grounds – during the Cold War.
Citizens who lived in the Pacific Islands were vehemently opposed to the testing being carried out. Not only was marine life being decimated by the experiment, but the nuclear fallout was drifting into the civilian communities. Many of them developed congenital disabilities; in fact, the radiation was so severe that many of the children of those initially exposed to it developed cancer as a result. Essentially, the entire population of the Pacific Islands was turned into unwilling guinea pigs.
The different island nations created various treaties and organizations to oppose the testing on their sovereign lands, but these were ignored. Many are still engaged in the push for global nuclear disarmament.