Unspeakable Suffering – the Humanitarian Impact of Nuclear Weapons 7 ______
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Unspeakable suff ering – the humanitarian impact of nuclear weapons Edited by Beatrice Fihn Reaching Critical Will – a programme of Women’s International League for Peace and Freedom. 1, Rue de Varembé, 1211 Genève From Tel: +41 (22) 919 7080 Fax: +41 (22) 919 7081 Email: [email protected] © 2013 Reaching Critical Will of the Women’s the International League for Peace and Freedom Permission is granted for non-commercial reproduction, copying, distribution, and transmission of this publication or parts thereof editor so long as full credit is given to the coordinating project and organization, editor, and relevant authors; the text is not altered, transformed, or Beatrice Fihn, January 2013 built upon; and for any reuse or distribution, these terms are made clear to others. A version of “Nuclear famine: A billion people at risk” originally was published April 2012 by the International Physicians for the Prevention of Nuclear War. A version of “Effects of a nuclear blast over Bombay” originally was published in Medicine & Global Survival, October 1998; Vol. 5, No. 2. The original idea for producing this publication was Many thanks go out to the authors and researchers of this formed during the 2012 Preparatory Committee, report: Ray Acheson, John Burroughs, Lloyd J. Dumas, The views expressed in this publication are those when more and more countries started to highlight Lily Gardener, Ira Hefland, Barbara R. Johnston, Patricia of the authors alone. Institutional affiliations are the catastrophic humanitarian consequences that Lewis, Magnus Løvold, Teresa D. Nelson, M.V. Ramana, provided for purposes of identification only and do nuclear weapons would cause if ever used. However, Felicity Ruby, Tilman Ruff and Masao Tomonaga. not imply endorsement of the content herein. it became clear that there was still a lack of evidence- based information regarding the impact of nuclear The willingness of all contributors to put such effort Cover photo: Nagasaki bomb victim Sumiteru weapons used in these statements. into this work, which goes well beyond any one report, Taniguchi looks at a photo of himself taken in 1945. is deeply appreciated. His horrific burns have required 17 operations. In light of this, Reaching Critical Will wanted to Photo: Yuriko Nakao gather existing information and research by civil so- I’m also very grateful to Gabriella Irsten and Nic- Design and layout: FlyMoskito.dk ciety experts and present it in a clear but still compre- holette DeRosia from Reaching Critical Will, Tim hensive way. Wright, Daniela Varano, and Magnus Løvold from the This report was made possible with the kind International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons, contribution of the Swiss Federal Department of This study is aimed both for civil society actors, and of course Ray Acheson, for all the help and input Foreign Affairs. academics and governments that are interested in they have provided. approaching weapons negotiations with a humanitarian lens. We hope it will be useful for the upcoming period I also would like to particularly thank Ambassador that hopefully will be shaped by a reframing of the Benno Laggner and Reto Wollenmann from the Swiss nuclear debate, and for challenging the rhetoric of the Federal Department of Foreign Affairs for their sup- nuclear weapon possessors. By highlighting the reality port for this publication and for the work that Reach- of these weapons and what they would cause if used, ing Critical Will and Women’s International League this publication demonstrates that a stronger and more for Peace and Freedom carries out. concrete commitment to ban and eliminate nuclear weapons must be made now. Index About the authors . 6 Law and order . 66 Foreword . 11 International humanitarian law . 68 Dr. John Burroughs Impact on health . 12 The unknown known . 76 Magnus Løvold The health consequences of nuclear explosions . 14 Dr. Tilman A. Ruff Case studies . 83 Impact on environment Use of atomic bomb in war: Hiroshima and Nagasaki . 84 Dr. Masao Tomonaga and agriculture . 28 Nuclear weapons tests, fallout, and the devastating impact Environmental consequences of a nuclear weapon explosion . 30 on Marshall Islands environment, health and human rights . 88 Felicity Ruby Dr. Barbara Rose Johnston Nuclear famine: A billion people at risk . 36 Effects of a nuclear blast over Bombay . 94 Dr. Ira Helfand Dr. M.V. Ramana Impact on economy Preventing the unacceptable . 99 Beatrice Fihn and development . 48 Estimating the economic consequences of a nuclear weapons explosion: Critical factors . 50 Dr. Lloyd J. Dumas and Dr. Teresa D. Nelson Wider consequences – impact on development . 58 Ray Acheson 5 About the authors __________________________________________________________ __________________________________________________________ __________________________________________________________ __________________________________________________________ Ray Acheson Lloyd J. Dumas Ira Helfand Patricia M. Lewis Ray Acheson is the director of Women’s International League for Lloyd J. Dumas is Professor of Political Economy, Economics Ira Helfand, M.D., is co-President of International Physicians for Patricia M. Lewis is the Research Director, International Security Peace and Freedom’s disarmament programme, Reaching Critical and Public Policy at the University of Texas at Dallas. Trained the Prevention of Nuclear War (IPPNW), recipient of the 1985 at Chatham House in London. Her former posts include: Deputy Will. She has coordinated, written, and edited many of Reaching both as an economist and engineer, he has published eight books Nobel Peace Prize, and Past President of Physicians for Social Director and Scientist-in-Residence at CNS at the Monterey Critical Will’s publications, such as the NPT News in Review, and more than 120 articles in 11 languages. His articles have Responsibility, IPPNW’s US affiliate. Institute of International Studies; Director of UNIDIR; and Director First Committee Monitor, and edited several collaborative NGO appeared in, amongst others, the New York Times, Los Angeles of VERTIC in London. Dr. Lewis served on the 2004-6 WMD publications such as Beyond arms control, Assuring destruction Times, and International Herald Tribune. He has published studies on the medical consequences of nuclear Commission, chaired by Dr. Hans Blix, the 2010-2011 Advisory Panel forever, and Costs, risks, and myths of nuclear power. war in the New England Journal of Medicine, and the British on Future Priorities of the OPCW, chaired by Ambassador Rolf Ekeus, His most recent books include: The Peacekeeping Economy: Medical Journal, and has lectured widely in the United States, and and was an Advisor to the 2008-10 International Commission on Before joining Reaching Critical Will in 2005, Ms. Acheson Using Economic Relationships to Build a More Peaceful, in India, China, Japan, Russia, Israel, and throughout Europe on the Nuclear Non-proliferation and Disarmament (ICNND). worked with the Institute for Defense and Disarmament Studies Prosperous, and Secure World (Yale, 2011); The Technology health effects of nuclear weapons and nuclear power. tracking the manufacture and trade of weapons and writing for Trap: Where Human Error and Malevolence Meet Powerful Dr. Helfand was educated at Harvard College and the Albert She holds a BSc (Hons) in physics from Manchester University and a the organization’s flagship journal, the Arms Control Reporter. Technologies, and Confronting Corruption, Building Einstein College of Medicine. He is a former chairman of the PhD in nuclear physics from the Birmingham University. She is a dual She has an Honours BA from the University of Toronto in Peace Accountability, both published in 2010. Dr. Dumas has discussed Department of Emergency Medicine and President of the Medical national of the UK and Ireland. and Conflict Studies and is pursuing an MA in Politics at the policy implications of his work on more than 300 TV and radio Staff at Cooley Dickinson Hospital, and currently practices as an New School for Social Research. programs in the U.S., former Soviet Union, Russia, Canada, internist and urgent care physician at Family Care Medical Centre in Dr Lewis is the recipient of the American Physical Society’s Europe, Latin America and the Pacific. Springfield, Massachusetts. 2009 Joseph A. Burton Forum Award recognizing “outstanding contributions to the public understanding or resolution of issues involving the interface of physics and society.” __________________________________________________________ __________________________________________________________ __________________________________________________________ __________________________________________________________ John Burroughs Beatrice Fihn Barbara Rose Johnston Magnus Løvold John Burroughs, J.D., Ph.D., is an Executive Director of the New Beatrice Fihn is the manager of Women’s International League Barbara Rose Johnston is the Senior Research Fellow at the Magnus Løvold is Project Manager for the International York-based Lawyers Committee on Nuclear Policy, the UN office for Peace and Freedom’s disarmament programme, Reaching Centre for Political Ecology in Santa Cruz, California. An Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons (ICAN) in Geneva. Mr. of the International Association of Lawyers Against Nuclear Arms. Critical Will and a member of the International Steering Group environmental anthropologist, her research explores the linkages Løvold has studied philosophy and international relations at of the International Campaign to Abolish