Nuclear naysayers
The war against nuclear weapons is far from over for an international group of physicians
By Gabrielle Bauer
Not all countries are reliable. We would never be the
ones to strike first. We need to defend against terrorism.
Such statements, often used to support nuclear
defence initiatives, don't sway members of the International Physicians
for the Prevention of Nuclear War (IPPNW), a nonpartisan organization of
medical doctors in more than 60 countries. The goals of IPPNW are both
straightforward and staggeringly ambitious: to prevent all wars, to
promote nonviolent conflict resolution among nations, and to minimize the
effects of war and preparations for war on health, development and the
environment.
What qualifies doctors to comment on
nuclear combat and policy? "As caretakers of human bodies, doctors have a
unique perspective on the effect of nuclear war and war preparations on
public and private health," says Dr. Neil Arya, vice-president of IPPNW
and president of its Canadian affiliate organization, Physicians for
Global Survival (PGS).
"What fuels our work is our
awareness that there is no medical response to a nuclear war—in other
words, no way of saving the species from the ravages of such a war."
Launched in 1980, IPPNW owes its existence to a
handful of U.S. and then-U.S.S.R. physicians who banded together in their
concern about the threat of nuclear war between the two countries. Within
five years, doctors from 80 countries worldwide had joined the cause.
Today, organizations affiliated with IPPNW exist in 12 countries,
including Australia, France and Germany.
In the
pro-military climate of the early Ronald Reagan U.S. presidency, IPPNW
"had its work cut out for it," says Dr. Arya. Thanks in large part to the
organization's efforts, "Ronald Reagan stopped talking about nuclear war
in 1985," he says. Across the Atlantic, meanwhile, Soviet Prime Minister
Mikhail Gorbachev wrote a personal note to Dr. Bernard Lown, one of
IPPNW's founding members, stating the organization's position paper on
nuclear arms had changed his thinking. That same year, IPPNW earned a
Nobel Peace Prize.
Fast-forward to 1989 and the
destruction of the Berlin Wall, which signalled the end of the Cold War.
As the immediate threat of nuclear warfare receded, people became more
complacent about the issue, says Debbie Grisdale, PGS's executive
director. "It didn't capture young people's imaginations the way it had in
earlier generations." But with the recent U.S. request that Canada support
its controversial new national missile defence plan, Grisdale says the
nuclear threat has clearly not disappeared.
Enter
Bombs Away, a Canadian IPPNW initiative Grisdale sees as "an answer to the
threat of youthful apathy." Launched in February of this year and aimed at
Canadians born between the mid-1960s and the mid-1980s, the campaign seeks
to bring young people up to date on nuclear arms issues through public
transit ads, billboards, and a Web site (www.bombsaway.ca). Specifically,
Bombs Away urges young people to voice opposition to any Canadian
participation in the U.S. defence project.
To date,
Canada's reaction to the project has not satisfied IPPNW, says Dr. Arya.
On the one hand, Prime Minister Jean Chrétien has said he supports
antiballistic missile treaties, and former Foreign Affairs Minister Lloyd
Axworthy publicly criticized the entire project. But after meeting
President George W. Bush in early February, Chrétien said "perhaps we are
in a different era" of missile defence. New foreign minister John Manley
has yet to state his official position on the plan.
With its work in the nuclear-arms arena, IPPNW has
also involved itself in issues such as gun control and landmines. An
estimated 100 million landmines in 64 countries kill as many as 30 people
per day and injure another 40, says Dr. Arya. "These people suffer from
shock, gas gangrene and reduced blood supply to vital organs," he
explains, adding "most of these injuries occur after the war in question
has ended." In July 1997, IPPNW embarked on a long-term education and
advocacy campaign aimed at achieving a complete ban on the manufacture,
sale and use of these mines.
The organization also
lends its support to the recent Bill 67, requiring all firearms purchased
in this country be registered.
"It's not a solution,
but it's a step," says Dr. Arya. "Not only that, but the untold injuries
they cause can stretch the health infrastructure beyond its limits," he
says. Later this year, IPPNW will host an international medical conference
in Helsinki, Finland, to investigate the public-health consequences of
small arms.
Still, nuclear weaponry remains IPPNW's
number-one priority.
"Our concerns are somewhat
different than they were in the Cold War," says Dr. Arya. The spectre of
accidental nuclear warfare, for instance. Referring to a 1995 incident in
which Russia mistook a Norwegian weather balloon for a nuclear weapon, Dr.
Arya says, "There's always the possibility of a computer malfunction or
other glitch."
Then there's the cost factor—to the
tune of $50 billion to $60 billion for the proposed U.S. missile plan.
"These funds could be better used providing health insurance to citizens,
or even to help feed the so-called 'states of concern' the U.S. is so wary
of," says Grisdale. And there's no guarantee the pricey missiles would
provide the intended protection against nuclear attack, adds Dr. Arya.
"There's plenty of evidence from test missiles that these systems don't
always work as predicted."
Bottom line, says Dr.
Arya: "We don't want the world to find out whether a nuclear defence
system works or not. We'd rather have no arms and no war."
Contact
information for Physicians for Global Survival: #208-145 Spruce
St.,Ottawa, Ont., K1R 6P1. Tel: (613) 233 1982. Fax: (613) 233 9028.
E-mail: pgs@web.ca
—Gabrielle Bauer is a Toronto writer.