DATE=8/4/98
TYPE=CORRESPONDENT REPORT
NUMBER=2-236520
TITLE=INDIA-PAK NUKE / DOCTORS (L)
BYLINE=DAVID MCALARY
DATELINE=WASHINGTON
CONTENT=
VOICED AT:
INTRO: LEADING U-S, SOUTH ASIAN, AND RUSSIAN PHYSICIANS HAVE
JOINED THE INTERNATIONAL OUTCRY AGAINST THE RECENT INDIAN AND
PAKISTANI NUCLEAR WEAPONS TESTS. AS WE HEAR FROM V-O-A SCIENCE
CORRESPONDENT DAVID MCALARY, THEY ARE APPEALING TO THE TWO
COUNTRIES TO AVOID A NUCLEAR SHOWDOWN.
TEXT: THE NUCLEAR TESTS IN MAY HAVE CAUSED FIVE RENOWNED DOCTORS
TO SEEK A PLEDGE FROM INDIA AND PAKISTAN THAT NEITHER WILL BE THE
FIRST TO LAUNCH A NUCLEAR STRIKE ON THE OTHER.
ONE OF THE PHYSICIANS -- WILLIAM FOEGE ['FAY-GEE, WITH HARD 'G]
OF EMORY UNIVERSITY IN THE U-S CITY OF ATLANTA, GEORGIA -- SAYS
THE POSSESSION OF NUCLEAR WEAPONS INCREASES THE LIKELIHOOD THEY
WILL BE USED, ESPECIALLY IN A POLITICAL CRISIS BETWEEN TWO
COUNTRIES THAT HAVE ALREADY GONE TO WAR THREE TIMES.
// FOEGE ACT //
JUST AS A GUN IN THE HOUSE INCREASES YOUR CHANCE OF
DEATH, SO DOES A NUCLEAR WEAPON PROBABLY INCREASE THE
OWNER'S RISK. AN ADVERSARY KNOWING YOU HAVE A NUCLEAR
CAPACITY WANTS TO NEUTRALIZE IT FIRST, BEFORE YOU CAN
USE IT AND THEY LOSE THEIR STOCKPILE. SO PREEMPTION
BEGINS TO LOOK ATTRACTIVE AND THE LEADERS HAVE LOST
CONTROL.
// END ACT //
DR. FOEGE -- A PROFESSOR OF INTERNATIONAL HEALTH -- JOINED THE
FOUR OTHER DOCTORS IN AN OPEN LETTER TO INDIAN PRIME MINISTER
ATAL BIHARI VAJPAYEE AND HIS PAKISTANI COUNTERPART, NAWAZ SHARIF,
IN WEDNESDAY'S ISSUE OF "THE JOURNAL OF THE AMERICAN MEDICAL
ASSOCIATION."
DR. FOEGE'S COLLEAGUES ARE BERNARD LOWN [RHYMES WITH TOWN] OF THE
HARVARD SCHOOL OF PUBLIC HEALTH IN BOSTON; EUGENE CHAZOV OF THE
CARDIOLOGY RESEARCH CENTER IN MOSCOW; SAEED UL-MAJEED, PRESIDENT
OF THE PAKISTAN MEDICAL ASSOCIATION; AND R. JAYACHANDRA REDDY,
PRESIDENT OF THE INDIAN MEDICAL ASSOCIATION.
// OPT // DOCTORS LOWN AND CHAZOV WON THE NOBEL PEACE PRIZE IN
1985 ON BEHALF OF INTERNATIONAL PHYSICIANS FOR THE PREVENTION OF
NUCLEAR WAR, A GROUP THEY COFOUNDED. // END OPT //
IN THEIR APPEAL TO THE LEADERS OF INDIA AND PAKISTAN, THE FIVE
PHYSICIANS SAY A NUCLEAR CONFLICT BETWEEN THE TWO COUNTRIES WOULD
BE AN UNMITIGATED CATASTROPHE FOR ALL HUMANKIND.
A RELATIVELY PRIMITIVE U-S ATOMIC BOMB DROPPED ON HIROSHIMA
KILLED MORE THAN 100-THOUSAND PEOPLE AND MAIMED AND INJURED A
SIMILAR NUMBER IN A FRACTION OF A SECOND ON AUGUST SIXTH, 1945.
THE DOCTORS NOTE THAT HEALTH CARE WORKERS COULD NOT HANDLE ALL
OF THE SUFFERING CAUSED BY MODERN NUCLEAR WEAPONS, PARTICULARLY
SINCE THEY WOULD BE AMONG THE VICTIMS.
// OPT // THE DOCTORS POINT OUT THAT EVEN IN THE ABSENCE OF
SPECIFIC TENSIONS, A NUCLEAR POSTURE IS AN ACCIDENT WAITING TO
HAPPEN. AS THE U-S-SOVIET COLD WAR EXPERIENCE SHOWED, HARDWARE
AND COMPUTER SOFTWARE BREAK DOWN, AND NUCLEAR TECHNICIANS CAN GET
DRUNK OR HAVE SERIOUS MENTAL PROBLEMS. // END OPT //
DR. FOEGE AND THE OTHER COSIGNERS OF THE LETTER ARGUE THAT
ABOLITION OF NUCLEAR WEAPONS IS THE ONLY REMEDY FOR THEM.
// FOEGE ACT //
THERE IS NO OBLIGATION TO THE FUTURE MORE COMPELLING
THAN TO ELIMINATE THE NUCLEAR THREAT. WE HAD THE POWER
TO CREATE IT. WE STILL HAVE THE POWER TO ELIMINATE IT.
THE LEADERS OF INDIA AND PAKISTAN STILL HAVE THE POWER
-- BEFORE THEY LOSE CONTROL -- TO PROTECT THEIR CITIZENS
BY BECOMING MODELS OF SANITY AND GOOD ANCESTORS.
// END ACT //
THE PHYSICIANS' APPEAL FOLLOWS OTHER SCIENTIFIC REACTION AGAINST
THE INDIAN AND PAKISTANI NUCLEAR TESTS. THE COVER OF A RECENT
ISSUE OF THE BULLETIN OF ATOMIC SCIENTISTS FEATURED THE
MAGAZINE'S FAMOUS DOOMSDAY CLOCK -- A METAPHOR FOR THE FEAR OF
NUCLEAR WEAPONS USE -- WITH ITS HAND RESET TO 11:51 P.M. THAT IS
CLOSER TO MIDNIGHT THAN AT ANY TIME SINCE THE COLD WAR ENDED IN
1991. (SIGNED)
NEB/DEM/MMK
04-Aug-98 3:53 PM EDT (1953 UTC)
NNNN
Source: Voice of America
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