More than 100 medical journals, including The Lancet and The BMJ, have issued an unprecedented joint statement calling for urgent steps to be taken to reduce the risk of nuclear war and to move towards the total elimination of nuclear weapons – a move welcomed by CND.
The editorial, which featured in multiple publications, was co-authored by the editors of 11 of the world’s top medical and health journals, the World Association of Medical Editors, and leaders of the International Physicians for the Prevention of Nuclear War (IPPNW). It coincides with the ongoing UN Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) Preparatory Committee Meeting in Vienna, as well as commemorations of the 78th anniversary of the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki.
The authors note: “The danger is great and growing. The nuclear armed states must eliminate their nuclear arsenals before they eliminate us. The health community played a decisive part during the cold war and more recently in the development of the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons. We must take up this challenge again as an urgent priority, working with renewed energy to reduce the risks of nuclear war and to eliminate nuclear weapons.”
CND General Secretary Kate Hudson said: “This is an important intervention from the international medical community and reflects the grim reality that nuclear war remains a serious threat to global survival today. There is no way to prepare for the devastating death toll, health and environmental consequences that a nuclear war would bring. On the 78th anniversary of the atomic bombings of Japan, CND calls on nuclear-weapons states to take active steps to disarm before it’s too late.”