The Health and Humanitarian Case for Nuclear Disarmament
Physicians and health professionals are leaders in advocating for public health solutions to growing nuclear weapons dangers in our world today. Any use of nuclear weapons would have devastating health, humanitarian and environmental consequences.
Prevention Is the Only Cure
Physicians and health professionals warn that a meaningful medical response to any use of nuclear weapons would be impossible. We can’t prepare for nuclear war, we must prevent it.
A nuclear attack on any city would destroy hospitals and clinics, kill the vast majority of health professionals, wipe out medical supplies, and paralyze communication and transportation systems.
International health federations, including the World Medical Association, International Committee of the Red Cross, International Council of Nurses, International Federation of Medical Students' Associations, and World Federation of Public Health Associations, have officially endorsed the Nuclear Weapons Ban Treaty on the basis that a meaningful medical response to any use of nuclear weapons would be impossible.
Read the report “Unspeakable suffering, the humanitarian impact of nuclear weapon," from PSR affiliate ICAN.
Regional Nuclear War, Global Health Impacts
Nuclear war is ecocidal.
Scientific studies demonstrate that a regional nuclear war would have planetary impacts on the climate, agriculture and global health. IPPNW's report, Nuclear Famine, outlines these dangers.
The latest report from climate scientists Lili Xia, Alan Robock and their colleagues confirms our worst fears about the health consequences of nuclear weapons. Most notably, after the initial effects from blast, burns and radiation, the world would face climate impacts causing unprecedented starvation.
The smallest-scale of the report's nuclear war scenarios — involving only a tiny percentage of the world’s arsenals – would decrease global caloric consumption by seven percent, on average. If the United States and Russia had a nuclear war, the climate impacts on agriculture and other food production would be so severe that caloric consumption would drop 90 percent, on average, across the entire planet. Five billion people are estimated to perish from starvation in this scenario.
Beyond the Blast
Nuclear weapons inflict devastating health harms to civilians even before a bomb is detonated.
Nuclear weapons activities, including their use, production, testing, and waste storage, release ionizing radiation. In addition to the wartime citizens of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, workers, veterans, and civilians living near nuclear weapons sites have been exposed to radiation and suffer acute and long-term illnesses. These illnesses are often lethal and have inter-generational health effects.
Illnesses from radiation exposure from nuclear weapons activities include:
- Leukemia
- Multiple myeloma
- Stomach, colon, lung, breast, and thyroid cancers
- Cataracts
- Birth defects
- Infertility
- Chromosomal aberrations
- Hemorrhaging
- Infections
Photo: Martha Brice
Nuclear Famine: Even a “limited” nuclear war would cause abrupt climate disruption and global starvation
Frequently Asked Questions
Nuclear Weapons 101
By the Numbers
1,800
nuclear weapons are on high alert
Nuclear Warheads
9,500 nuclear weapons are active in military arsenals. 4,000 nuclear weapons are considered “operationally available.”
9
nuclear-armed countries
Nuclear States
The United States, Russia, China, the United Kingdom, France, Israel, India, Pakistan, and North Korea all possess nuclear weapons.
Photo: Clare Conboy/ICAN
Latest Disarmament News & Actions
Japanese Atomic Bomb Survivor Group to Receive the Nobel Peace Prize
The Norwegian Nobel Committee has announced they will award the 2024 Nobel Peace Prize to Nihon Hidankyo, the largest Hibakusha organization in Japan.
PSR joins the UNODA in New York at First Committee
PSR’s Magritte Gordaneer was named one of fifteen Youth Champions part of the UN Office for Disarmament Affairs earlier this year.
Local anti-nuclear activists cheer Nihon Hidankyo’s Nobel Peace Prize
WGBH article quoting PSR Past President Ira Helfand, MD.
It’s 90 Seconds to Midnight and We Never Give Up Push for a Nuclear-Free World
Op-ed by PSR Board Member Robert Dodge, MD in Common Dreams.