Obama And The Opportunity To Eliminate Nuclear Weapons, CMAJ Editorial

Main Category: Veterans / Ex-Servicemen
Article Date: 21 Jan 2009 - 4:00 PDT

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"As United States President Barack Obama assumes office on this historic day, we would like to remind him of his recent statement that 'A world without nuclear weapons is profoundly in America's interest and the world's interest. It is our responsibility to make the commitment, and to do the hard work to make this a reality,'" she quotes.

Dr. Caldicott is a pediatrician, author of the internationally acclaimed book If you love this planet and subject of several documentary films, including Eight Minutes to Midnight.

While the cold war is over, the nuclear threat is still a reality. "The current nuclear arsenal remains more than sufficient to produce a nuclear winter and end most life on Earth," writes Dr. Caldicott. "Even a nuclear war between India and Pakistan, using less than .3% of the current nuclear arsenal, could produce climate change unprecedented in recorded human history."

Just as physicians around the world helped raise awareness of the medical consequences of nuclear war in the 1980s, they must do so again she urges.

"Again we must mobilize our colleagues to lead a massive global movement for nuclear abolition - the ultimate form of preventative medicine. President Obama's words signal a critical new opportunity. He requires our help in this noble commitment," she concludes.

CMAJ is the leading health sciences journal in Canada. CMAJ is a general medical journal publishing original research and review articles, commentaries and editorials, practice updates, an arts and ideas section and health news. Published continuously since 1911, new issues are uploaded on http://www.cmaj.ca every second Monday at 4:30 p.m. EST/EDT. http://www.cmaj.ca contains the complete editorial contents of CMAJ, supplemented by a variety of interactive features and additional content.

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