NUCLEAR WAR TO TRIGGER GLOBAL FAMINE

Nuclear war to trigger global famine

Abdul Matin

TWO nuclear bombs dropped at Nagasaki and Hiroshima in 1945 killed over 200,000 people and caused huge devastations accompanied by nuclear radiation fallout. A recent study added a new dimension to the aftermath of a nuclear war. It is a global famine. According to a study (second edition) by the International Physicians for the Prevention of Nuclear War and Physicians for Social Responsibility, “a nuclear war between India and Pakistan would set off a global famine that could kill two billion people and effectively end human civilisation.”
The study concludes that black carbon aerosol particles released into the atmosphere by a South Asian nuclear war would reduce US corn and soybean production by around 10 percent over a decade. Similarly, China's rice production will be reduced by an average of 21 percent over four years and by another 10 percent over the following six years. In addition, China's wheat production would plunge by 50 percent during the first year after the nuclear war and would still be 31 percent below baseline a decade later. This will virtually trigger a global famine.
India and Pakistan together possess only about 200 nuclear weapons compared with the combined total of 9,130 weapons stockpiled by USA and Russia. These weapons are several hundred times more powerful than the ones dropped in 1945. Obviously, a war between USA and Russia will annihilate the entire human race from the planet.
Ira Helfand, the author of the report, called for further research to ascertain the size of a probable nuclear famine. According to him, the disaster will be so massive in scale that no precautionary measures will be able to protect us. The only way to survive is through total abolition of nuclear weapons. A number of Strategic Arms Limitation Treaties (SALT) and a Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty (CTBT) have been signed but yet we are not closer to even a partial abolition of nuclear weapons. What is worse, three nuclear weapon states did not sign CTBT.
According to the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists, there are now 10,200 stockpiled nuclear weapons by nine countries. President Barack Obama pledged in 2009 to work towards abolition but said that the United States would keep nuclear weapons as long as others did. In that case, which country will be the first to abolish nuclear weapons if every country intends to be the last one?
Several international organisations have been campaigning in support of nuclear disarmament. They need to be more active. To abolish nuclear weapons, we need more public support -- particularly in the nuclear weapon states. Only they can convince their leaders that abolition of nuclear weapons is essential for the survival of the human race.

The writer is a former chief engineer of Bangladesh Atomic Energy Commission

Published: 12:00 am Tuesday, December 24, 2013

Last modified: 9:54 pm Tuesday, December 24, 2013

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