[ "The nuclear-armed states must eliminate their nuclear arsenals
before they eliminate us."]
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TOP MEDICAL JOURNALS PUBLISH UNPRECEDENTED JOINT CALL FOR THE
ELIMINATION OF NUCLEAR WEAPONS  
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Jake Johnson
August 2, 2023
Common Dreams
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_ "The nuclear-armed states must eliminate their nuclear arsenals
before they eliminate us." _

Anti-nuclear protest in Taipei., Reuters

 

Leading medical journals published a joint editorial
[[link removed](23)01526-X/fulltext#%20] late
Tuesday calling on world leaders to take urgent steps to reduce the
risk of nuclear war—and eliminate atomic weapons altogether—as the
threat of a potentially civilization-ending conflict continues to
grow.

The call was first issued in _The Lancet_, _The
BMJ_, _JAMA_, _International Nursing Review_, and other top
journals. Dozens of other journals are expected to publish the
editorial in the coming days ahead of the 78th anniversary of the U.S.
nuclear bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki.

The editorial begins by noting that the hands of the Doomsday Clock
are closer to midnight than ever before
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reflecting mounting nuclear tensions
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Russia's invasion of Ukraine.

"Current nuclear arms control and nonproliferation efforts are
inadequate to protect the world's population against the threat of
nuclear war by design, error, or miscalculation," the editorial reads.
"Modernization of nuclear arsenals could increase risks—for example,
hypersonic missiles decrease the time available to distinguish between
an attack and a false alarm, increasing the likelihood of rapid
escalation."

The editorial cautions that even a "limited" nuclear conflict
involving just hundreds of atomic weapons—a small fraction of the
global arsenal—"could kill 120 million people outright and cause
global climate disruption leading to a nuclear famine, putting two
billion people at risk."

"A large-scale nuclear war between the U.S. and Russia could kill 200
million people or more in the near term and potentially cause a global
'nuclear winter' that could kill 5-6 billion people, threatening the
survival of humanity," the editorial continues. "Once a nuclear weapon
is detonated, escalation to all-out nuclear war could occur rapidly.
The prevention of any use of nuclear weapons is therefore an urgent
public health priority and fundamental steps must also be taken to
address the root cause of the problem—by abolishing nuclear
weapons."

Chris Zielinski of the World Association of Medical Editors said in a
statement that the joint publication is "an extraordinary development"
given that medical journals typically "go to great lengths to ensure
that the material they publish has not appeared in any other medical
journals."

"That all of these leading journals have agreed to publish the same
editorial underlines the extreme urgency of the current nuclear crisis
and the need for prompt action to address this existential threat,"
said Zielinski.

The editorial was released as parties to the Treaty on the
Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons convened
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preparation for the 2026 treaty review conference. Last year, the 10th
review conference of the nonproliferation treaty ended without a
consensus agreement [[link removed]] as
Russia opposed a draft summary document.

All the while, the global nuclear stockpile continued to grow.

According to recent research
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the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute, the nine nations
currently known to possess nuclear weapons had 9,576 working nukes at
the start of 2023, up slightly from the 9,490 total in January of last
year.

The U.S.—the only country that has ever used nuclear weapons in
war—and Russia control roughly 90% of the world's nuclear arsenal.

None of the nuclear-armed countries have backed the Treaty on the
Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons
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binding international agreement that bars signatories from using,
threatening to use, developing, stockpiling, or transferring atomic
weaponry.

The new editorial argues that must change if the world is to step back
from the brink of catastrophe.

"The health community has had a crucial role in efforts to reduce the
risk of nuclear war and must continue to do so in the future," the
editorial states. "In the 1980s the efforts of health professionals,
led by the International Physicians for the Prevention of Nuclear War
(IPPNW), helped to end the cold war arms race by educating
policymakers and the public on both sides of the Iron Curtain about
the medical consequences of nuclear war. This was recognized when the
1985 Nobel peace prize was awarded to the IPPNW."

Noting that IPPNW and other groups played critical roles in the
development of the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons, the
editorial calls on health professionals worldwide to "join with the
IPPNW to support efforts to reduce the near-term risks of nuclear war,
including three immediate steps on the part of nuclear-armed states
and their allies: first, adopt a no first use policy; second, take
their nuclear weapons off hair-trigger alert; and, third, urge all
states involved in current conflicts to pledge publicly and
unequivocally that they will not use nuclear weapons in these
conflicts."

"We further ask them to work for a definitive end to the nuclear
threat by supporting the urgent commencement of negotiations among the
nuclear-armed states for a verifiable, timebound agreement to
eliminate their nuclear weapons," the editorial adds. "The
nuclear-armed states must eliminate their nuclear arsenals before they
eliminate us."

_Jake Johnson is a staff writer for Common Dreams._

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* anti-nuclear movement
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* doctors
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* medical journals
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