HIROSHIMA, Aug. 5 Kyodo -- People from Algeria and French Polynesia on Monday in Hiroshima denounced Paris for over its refusal to recognize health problems they say are related to nuclear tests it conducted.

They adopted a statement demanding France recognize its responsibility for such medical conditions and conduct continuous surveys on local residents near the test sites.

They also demanded it recognize the existence of damage to the health of locals and others who worked at the sites. The event is a part of a three-day international conference organized by the Japan Congress Against A and H Bombs (Gensuikin).

Participants from overseas said France has consistently rejected compensation claims by locals on the grounds it conducted nuclear tests in a ''clean'' manner.

France conducted a total of 210 tests including 50 in the atmosphere between 1960 and 1996 in the Sahara Desert in Algeria and in French Polynesia.

Bruno Barrillot, a French journalist and antinuclear activist, said many French soldiers and civilians including locals worked near the sites without proper protective gear and were exposed to radiation.

He claims Paris must have known about the danger at the start of the tests in 1960 since many documents about the hazards from the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki were already translated into French.

Mohamed Bendjebbar, a former Algerian military officer, was involved in the management of former French nuclear test sites in the Sahara after French forces withdrew in 1967 and later suffered health problems.

''The whole area near ground zero of the test site was black and I saw many deformed metal fragments here and there,'' Bendjebbar said.

Roland Oldham, chairman of the association of victims of French nuclear tests in French Polynesia, stressed, ''It's taboo to criticize or even talk about the nuclear tests in Polynesia.''

Those who do so face the threat of losing their jobs and are under other pressure from local authorities, he added.

''We want to ally with victims of radiation sickness in other countries and we want more support from Japan,'' Oldam said.

Raymond Taha, 54, worked as a security guard at test sites in the Moruroa Atolls of French Polynesia from 1970 to 1972. He entered the sites without protective equipment and developed acute leukemia in 1994. He says his colleagues died one after another and his daughter died due to malformed lungs.

Etienne Tehumu, 35, a policeman from Tureia Island in French Polynesia, said adults there received wine and children got candy and chocolates from French soldiers after each nuclear test was held.

''For the sake of the islanders of Tureia, I want to know the truth about what the French government policy was,'' he said, adding locals should have more detailed health checks.