DEAD — a grave threat to global health
Nuclear weapons have been a dead end for decades, as these demonstrators recognized during the US-Soviet Cold War.
An uncommon but severe disorder that has been present for over half a century but is not yet officially classified is an under-recognised threat to global health. It relates to the most powerful weapons ever created, nuclear weapons, which have the potential to indiscriminately destroy most forms of life on earth. I propose the term Destruction of Everything Addiction Disorder (DEAD) to describe the condition of those who refuse to give up their reliance on these weapons despite overwhelming evidence of the harm they cause. Read more…
Who likes nuclear weapons?
From a humanistic perspective, it may seem strange that many ordinary citizens in countries like India, Pakistan, and North Korea apparently are in favor of the insane nuclear weapons programs of their governments. Maybe they have been brainwashed with terms like national strength, power, and security? Read more…
By Dr. Hellen Barsosio, Executive Director IPPNW-Kenya, and Mary Iwaret, medical student, Kenya, Medical Peace Work Africa Coordinator
As doctors in society, we are called to be more than just hospital workers and engage with the politics and social aspects of our society ‘if we are to live up to the highest ideals of the profession’ (Eisenberg, L. (1986) Rudolf Virchow: The Physician as Politician. Medicine and War, 2, 243-250). This was beautifully described by Rudolf Virchow in his famous statement that ‘medicine is a social science and politics is nothing but medicine on a larger scale.’
Medical students growing up in most African countries are confronted and sometimes overwhelmed by the varied needs in their societies including war, disease, poverty, violence, inequality and political instability. With this ‘confrontation’ comes the need to ‘fix’ whatever is wrong. In the past few years, we have noted that African medical students and young doctors are awakening to their responsibility to being more than just hospital workers. One of these areas of awakening is peace work.
What if Ukraine still had nuclear weapons?
Last week, the Wall Street Journal published a fallacious (and irresponsible) editorial, in which it claimed that “[o]ne lesson to the world of Russia’s cost-free carve-up of Ukraine is that nations that abandon their nuclear arsenals do so at their own peril.” While not exactly claiming that rampant global proliferation would make the world a more secure place, the idea that certain countries depend for their security upon either their own or someone else’s ability to annihilate the world is presented without a hint of irony.
Medical students expand their horizons in Tunisia
by Niloufar Rahim (Netherlands), Carlotta Conrad (Germany), Michelle Gin (USA)
We were invited by the International Federation of Medical Students’ Association (IFMSA) to join their Pre General Assembly (preGA) meeting, from 27 February to 3 March in Hammamet, Tunisia, leading up to their annual March meeting. Excited, we accepted the invitation, looking forward to meeting medical students from all over the world, and engaged to reinstall communication, exchange and collaboration IFMSA.
“No greater insanity” is more like it
The other day I read a news article about churches in Kentucky that are offering incentives to “unchurched” men in order to bring them into the congregation. Do I even have to make you guess?
From the Courier-Journal of March 1: “In an effort its spokesman has described as ‘outreach to rednecks,’ the Kentucky Baptist Convention is leading ‘Second Amendment Celebrations,’ where churches around the state give away guns as door prizes to lure in nonbelievers in hopes of converting them to Christ.” Read more…
Fukushima three years later: A photo essay
[Ed. note: Photo-journalist Kristian Laemmle-Ruff was recently in Fukushima, where he took hundreds of photos documenting the continuing health and environmental costs of the nuclear power plant disaster that devastated a city and its people and shook the world three years ago today. A selection of Kristian’s photos and his commentary are below. His father—IPPNW co-president Tilman Ruff—has written here about the ongoing public health issues that challenge Japan and the international community today as a result of the Fukushima disaster.] Read more…
The Fukushima nuclear disaster three years on
by Tilman Ruff
Fukushima-Daiichi Unit 3 reactor in July 2013
The world’s most complex nuclear power plant disaster continues three years on, and will continue for many years hence. Uncontrolled flows of around 1,000 tons of groundwater per day into the site continue; 400 tons of water daily flows into the damaged reactor and turbine buildings where it becomes radioactively contaminated. Some is collected—more than 430,000 tons of radioactively contaminated water is now stored in about 1,000 makeshift tanks, many of which are bolted rather than welded, lack even gauges to show how full they are, and have leaked repeatedly. Read more…
Praise be to Bill Clinton, Boris Yeltsin and Leonid Kravchuk: There are no nuclear weapons in Ukraine!
When the Soviet Union fell apart, Ukraine, Belarus and Kazakhstan became de facto nuclear states. Ukraine had the third largest nuclear arsenal in the world with about 5,000 nuclear charges, more than the UK, France, and China put together. The situation was dangerous. Russia, the USA, and Europe all had a strong interest in stopping the proliferation.
It was not a given that the plan to remove nuclear weapons from these three member states of the former Soviet Union would work. Read more…
IPPNW views with deep concern the recent developments in Ukraine. IPPNW underscores the absolute imperative to avoid the possibility of use of nuclear weapons. This danger exists with any armed conflict involving nuclear armed states or alliances, which could escalate in uncontrollable, unintended and unforeseeable ways.
“Ukraine is commendable in being one of the few states to have given up its nuclear weapons peacefully, and the people of Ukraine should not have to fear nuclear weapons ravaging their country.” said IPPNW co-president Dr. Ira Helfand from Boston, USA. Any war involves a terrible and lasting human toll, risks spreading and harming people’s health in the region and beyond.
IPPNW calls on all parties involved to work for a negotiated solution that respects the rights of all people in Ukraine to be safe from armed conflict and their right to participate in decisions affecting their future.
Bimal Khadka
Bjorn Hilt
Charles K. Johnson
Gunnar Westberg
IPPNW
John Loretz
Lawrence Wittner
Maria Valenti
mollymcgint
Sue Wareham
Tilman Ruff
Tim Wright
Xanthe Hall
IPPNW peace and health blog 