Recorded presentation

Victor W. Sidel, MD, Albert Einstein Medical College and Montefiore Medical Center, Distinguished University Professor of Social Medicine, 111 East 210th Street, Bronx, New York, NY 10467, 718 920-6586, vsidel@igc.org

While nuclear weapons have not been used in war since the U.S. bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki in 1945, the continued development, production, testing, and storage and the dismantling of these weapons by the United States and other nations pose a threat to the environment and to health. Depleted uranium (DU), which was used a shell casing by the United States and by the United Kingdom in the 2003 attack on Iraq and by the United States in the 1991 Persian Gulf War and in wars in former Yugoslavia, is not a “nuclear weapon” but is a radiologic and toxic weapon. Its use in war also poses indisputable threats to the environment and may already have produced health effects, although these health effects are still controversial. Military use of DU has been viewed by many analysts as contrary to international conventions that bar the use of toxic weapons. Continued development, production, testing, and storage of nuclear weapons and the use of DU weapons, it will be argued, are threats to peace and to public health.

Learning Objectives:

• Learn the environmental and health impact of the continued development, production, testing, and storage of nuclear weapons and the dismantling of these weapons by the United States and other nations.
• Learn the environmental and health impact of the use of depleted uranium (DU).
• Discuss the legal status of nuclear weapons and of DU, which is not a “nuclear weapon” but is a radiologic and toxic weapon.
• Discuss the ways in which continued development, production, testing, and storage of nuclear weapons and the use of DU weapons may be threats to peace and to public health.

Keywords: War, Environmental Health Hazards

Presenting author's disclosure statement:
I do not have any significant financial interest/arrangement or affiliation with any organization/institution whose products or services are being discussed in this session.

Recorded presentation