Adam's Radiation Encounter? (Les Cope)

In 1972 my wife Peta, Adam and I went to Wilsons Promontory. We were in our early twenties and Adam was yet to be born with Peta being three months pregnant. We had been to the ‘Prom’ many times before, but this time it was to have far greater meaning to us than we could have imagined. We drove up to the Mount Oberon car park and walked to its top to obtain some photographs. It was overcast with grey clouds sweeping above and around us and across the horizon giving a feeling of freedom and being alive. At Mount Oberon you felt you are on top of the world.

View from Mt Oberon, Just before the black cloud

I completed my photographs, packed up my tripod and trusty camera, stood up and turned around. There, directly in front of me was a huge black cloud. I have not seen one like this before or since. It was shiny and black, cumulus in structure, compact and floating separately from the other clouds. It looked evil. I referred to this cloud in later years as being as black as Darth Vader. Blacker than black and more evil than Vader himself. I remember saying, “Look at that” in a rather incredulous tone. Awe struck, we observed it for a few seconds and I jokingly commented, “Must be some fall out from Muroa Attoll”. At the time the French were conducting weekly nuclear bomb tests in the open air at Muroa Attoll in the Pacific, right on Australia’s doorstep. The then Federal Labour Government under Gough Whitlam was in the process of taking the French to the international court in an attempt to stop them.

The black cloud was moving quickly and coming from a North Easterly direction. The Pacific area where the Attoll is located is roughly North to Northeast of the Prom. The cloud stayed in view for ten to twenty seconds and was then swallowed up, disappearing into the swirling mist of the other clouds. No time to take a picture as I had tucked the camera away. Realising a storm was imminent; we proceeded down the lookout steps and back onto the main track. Within minutes the heavens opened and we were both caught in a major deluge. We were saturated within seconds. We made it back to the car looking forward to a warm shower back at our cabin. Six months later Adam was born. Two months later he was diagnosed with Tuberous Schlerosis.

Tuberous Schlerosis Complex (TSC) is a rare, multi-system genetic disease and is caused by mutations on either of two genes, TSC1 and TSC2. If any one of the parents has this disease it may be passed on to their children. Peta and I had numerous tests and found we did not have Tuberous Schlerosis, so where did it come from? A genetic mutation was a possibility. During one of many appointments with Adams brain specialist. (Adams Tuberous Schlerosis affects his brain with a number of tumours). “Would radiation cause this disease?” we asked.  The specialist replied, “Why do you ask?” Peta relied that she had worked in X-Ray departments at a number of hospitals. The specialist responded, “This would not have caused it, as the amount of radiation would have been minimal and checks are in place to support anyone working in such areas.” We then asked “What about nuclear fallout from the testing at Muroa.” We give him a shortened version of our encounter at the Prom with the black cloud and the fact that Peta was three months pregnant. This being a crucial time in the formation of our baby. 

There was silence for a moment. He responded, “Any nuclear exposure after such an event could certainly cause the genetic mutation we see in Tuberous Schlerosis, I cannot say for sure that this is the case but its certainly possible.”

Where could we do with such information that would have been almost impossible to prove? Should we sue the French Government? That would mean taking them to the highest court in the world. The French at the time were showing little regard to the local island people who lived in and around Muroa Attoll. They had re-located entire communities. They would not allow other countries to enter the region and had and were having numerous environmental battles with Greenpeace and the Rainbow Warrior.

Thirty-eight years later we still think about this encounter with the black cloud and wonder, maybe, or what if, or should we have done something else at the time. Either way its past history and one of the many stories that we tell people from time to time.

Note: This is a personal family story based on what we consider a major event in our lives. There has not been any scientific research done to our knowledge that confirms that our encounter with the black cloud (if it was a radioactive cloud) caused Adams TSC.

© Les Cope