An Open Letter from Scientists in Support of the UN Nuclear Weapons Negotiations

 

An Open Letter from Scientists in Support of the UN Nuclear Weapons Negotiations

Nuclear arms are the only weapons of mass destruction not yet prohibited by an international convention, even though they are the most destructive and indiscriminate weapons ever created. We scientists bear a special responsibility for nuclear weapons, since it was scientists who invented them and discovered that their effects are even more horrific than first thought. Individual explosions can obliterate cities, radioactive fallout can contaminate regions, and a high-altitude electromagnetic pulse may cause mayhem by frying electrical grids and electronics across a continent. The most horrible hazard is a nuclear-induced winter, in which the fires and smoke from as few as a thousand detonations might darken the atmosphere enough to trigger a global mini ice age with year-round winter-like conditions. This could cause a complete collapse of the global food system and apocalyptic unrest, potentially killing most people on Earth – even if the nuclear war involved only a small fraction of the roughly 14,000 nuclear weapons that today’s nine nuclear powers control. As Ronald Reagan said: “A nuclear war cannot be won and must never be fought.”

https://futureoflife.org/nuclear-open-letter/?utm_source=Federation+of+American+Scientists&utm_campaign=cdf3f49490-EMAIL_CAMPAIGN_2017_02_21&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_56a7496199-cdf3f49490-199338577