This Comment in The Lancet by Andy Haines and colleagues is a reminder of the horrific impact of nuclear weapons:
'If a single warhead of 100 kilotons exploded over a major city it would kill hundreds of thousands of people outright and injure many more, overwhelming the health-care system of an entire nation. Even a small-scale nuclear war, involving 250 of the deployed nuclear weapons in the NATO and Russian arsenals, or as might take place between India and Pakistan, would be expected to result in sufficient dust and smoke blocking solar radiation to cause major climate disruption that would trigger a global famine, putting billions of people at risk and destroying modern civilisation. A large-scale nuclear war would create a nuclear winter, with temperatures falling an average of about 10°C across the globe, and could kill most of humanity over 10 years.'
'... it is essential that leaders refrain from exacerbating tensions by implying that such weapons have a military purpose and that immediate steps are taken to reduce the risks of miscommunication and error potentially leading to tragedy on a vast scale.'
CITATION: Reducing the risks of nuclear war to humanity
Ira Helfand, Patricia Lewis, Andy Haines
Published: March 04, 2022
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/S0140-6736(22)00422-6
Neil Pakenham-Walsh, HIFA Coordinator, neil@hifa.org www.hifa.org
