1. Home
  2. Vol 29, No 5 (2025)
  3. Abbasi

Ending nuclear weapons, before they end us

Kamran Abbasi(1), Parveen Ali(2), Virginia Barbour(3), Marion Birch(4), Inga Blum(5), Peter Doherty(6), Andy Haines(7), Ira Helfand(8), Richard Horton(9), Kati Juva(10), Jose F. Lapena Jr(11), Robert Mash(12), Olga Mironova(13), Arun Mitra(14), Carlos Monteiro(15), Elena N. Naumova(16), David Onazi(17), Tilman Ruff(18), Peush Sahni(19), James Tumwine(20), Carlos Umaña(21), Paul Yonga(22), Chris Zielinski(23),


(1) Editor-in-Chief, BMJ
(2) Editor-in-Chief, International Nursing Review
(3) Editor-in-Chief, Medical Journal of Australia
(4) Editor-inChief, Medact & University College London
(5) At-large Board Member, IPPNW
(6) 1996 Nobel Prize for Physiology or Medicine
(7) London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine
(8) Past President, IPPNW
(9) Editor-in-Chief, The Lancet
(10) Co-President, IPPNW
(11) Vice-President, WAME
(12) Editor-in-Chief, African Journal of Primary Health Care & Family Medicine
(13) Co President, IPPNW
(14) Past President, IPPNW
(15) Editor-in-Chief, Revista de Saúde Pública
(16) Editor-in-Chief, Journal of Public Health Policy
(17) Co-President, IPPNW
(18) Past President, IPPNW
(19) Editor-in-Chief, National Medical Journal of India
(20) Editor-in-Chief, African Health Sciences
(21) Co-President, IPPNW
(22) Editor-in-Chief, East African Medical Journal
(23) President, WAME
Corresponding Author

Abstract


This May, the World Health Assembly (WHA) will vote on re-establishing a mandate for the World Health Organization (WHO) to address the health consequences of nuclear weapons and war1. Health professionals and their associations should urge their governments to support such a mandate and support the new UN comprehensive study on the effects of nuclear war.

References


World Health Organization. Effects of nuclear weapons and war

on health and health services. EB156/CONF./10,

Executive Board, 5 Feb 2025.

https://apps.who.int/gb/ebwha/pdf_files/EB156/B156_CO

NF10-en.pdf (accessed 4/3/2025)

Tomonaga M. The atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki:

a summary of the human consequences, 1945-2018, and

lessons for Homo sapiens to end the nuclear weapon age.

Journal for Peace and Nuclear Disarmament

;2(2):491-517.

NobelPrize.org, 2024. The Nobel Peace Prize 2024.

https://www.nobelprize.org/prizes/peace/2024/summary/

(accessed 25/2/2025)

Award ceremony speech. NobelPrize.org. Nobel Prize Outreach

Tue.

Feb

https://www.nobelprize.org/prizes/peace/2024/ceremony

speech/ (accessed 25/2/2025)

Tannenwald, Nina. The Nuclear Taboo: The United States and the

Normative Basis of Nuclear Non-Use. International

Organization, vol. 53, no. 3, 1999, pp. 433–68. JSTOR,

http://www.jstor.org/stable/2601286 (accessed 3/3/2025)

Robock A, Xia L, Harrison CS, Coupe J, Toon OB and Bardeen C.

Opinion: How fear of nuclear winter has helped save the

world, so far. Atmospheric Chemistry and Physics

;23(12):6691-6701.

https://acp.copernicus.org/articles/23/6691/2023/

(accessed 4/3/2025)

Helfand I, Haines A, Ruff T, Kristensen H, Lewis P and Mian Z.

The growing threat of nuclear war

and the role of the

health community. World Medical Journal 2016;62(3):86

Kristensen H, Korda M, Johns E, Knight M and Kohn K. Status of

world nuclear forces. Federation of American Scientists.

https://fas.org/initiative/status-world-nuclear-forces/

(accessed 18/3/2025)

Norwegian People's Aid. Nuclear weapons ban monitor 2024.

February

/3/2025)

https://banmonitor.org/

(accessed

Science and Security Board. Closer than ever: It is now 89

seconds to midnight. 2025 Doomsday Clock Statement.

Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists. 28 Jan 2025.

https://thebulletin.org/doomsday-clock/2025

statement/(accessed 4/3/2025)

Xia L, Robock A, Scherrer K, et al. Global food insecurity and

famine from reduced crop, marine fishery and livestock

production due to climate disruption from nuclear war soot

injection. Nat Food 2022; 3: 586–96.

United Nations General Assembly. Nuclear war and scientific

research.

A/C.1/79/L.39

Oct

https://reachingcriticalwill.org/images/documents/Disarm

ament-fora/1com/1com24/resolutions/L39-.pdf (accessed

/3/2025)

https://reachingcriticalwill.org/images/documents/Disarmament

fora/1com/1com24/votes-ga/408DRXVII.pdf

(accessed

/3/25)

World Health Organization. Effects of nuclear war on health and

health services, 2nd ed. Geneva, WHO, 1987.

https://iris.who.int/handle/10665/39199

(accessed 4/3/2025)

World Health Organization. Health and environmental effects of

nuclear weapons. WHA46/30. 26 April 1993.

https://iris.who.int/bitstream/handle/10665/175987/WHA

_30_eng.pdf?isAllowed=y&sequence=1

(accessed 4.3.2025)

Abbasi K, Ali P, Barbour V, et al. Reducing the risks of nuclear

war. BMJ 2023;382: p1682.

United Nations, 2017. Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear

Weapons.

https://www.icanw.org/tpnw_full_text

(accessed 9/3/2025).


Full Text: PDF

Article Metrics

Abstract View : 530 times
PDF Download : 254 times

Refbacks

  • There are currently no refbacks.