10.4081/btvb.2023.94
In January 2023, the Science and Security Board of the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists moved the hands of the Doomsday Clock forward to 90 seconds before midnight, reflecting the growing risk of nuclear war. In August 2022, the UN Secretary-General António Guterres warned that the world is now in “a time of nuclear danger not seen since the height of the Cold War.” The danger has been underlined by growing tensions between many nuclear armed states [...].
 
Note: this Editorial is being published simultaneously in multiple journals. For the full list of journals see: https://www.bmj.com/content/full-list-authors-and-signatories-nuclear-risk-editorial-august-2023.
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                                                                                                                           EDITORIAL

Reducing the risks of nuclear war - The role of health professionals
Kamran Abbasi,1 Parveen Ali,2 Virginia Barbour,3 Kirsten Bibbins-Domingo,4 Marcel G.M. Olde Rikkert,5 Andy Haines,6
Ira Helfand,7 Richard Horton,8 Bob Mash,9 Arun Mitra,7 Carlos Monteiro,10 Elena N. Naumova,11 Eric J. Rubin,12
Tilman Ruff,7 Peush Sahni,13 James Tumwine,14 Paul Yonga,15 Chris Zielinski16
                                                                             1
                                                                               Editor-in-Chief, British Medical Journal; 2Editor-in-Chief,
                                                                             International Nursing Review; 3Editor-in-Chief, Medical Journal
  Correspondence: Chris Zielinski, University of Winchester, UK.
  E-mail: czielinski@ippnw.org
                                                                             of Australia; 4Editor-in-Chief, JAMA; 5Editor-in-Chief, Dutch
                                                                             Journal of Medicine; 6London School of Hygiene and Tropical
  Conflict of interest: Dr Olde Rikkert reported receiving research          Medicine; 7Past President, International Physicians for the
  grants from the Dutch Research Council and Netherlands Organi-             Prevention of Nuclear War; 8Editor-in-Chief, The Lancet;
  sation for Health Research. Dr Haines reported grants from the             9
                                                                               Editor-in-Chief, African Journal of Primary Health Care &
  Wellcome Trust and additional funding from the Oak Foundation;             Family Medicine; 10Editor-in-Chief, Revista de Saúde Pública;
  royalties from Cambridge University Press for a book on planetary          11
                                                                                Editor-in-Chief, Journal of Public Health Policy; 12Editor-in-
  health; consulting fees paid to his institution for serving as a senior    Chief, New England Journal of Medicine; 13Editor-in-Chief,
  advisor on climate change from Wellcome Trust; serving on steer-
  ing committees or advisory groups for global health for African re-
                                                                             National Medical Journal of India; 14Editor-in-Chief, African
  search organizations (without compensation); and cochairing                Health Sciences; 15Editor-in-Chief, East African Medical




                                                                                               ly
  working groups on climate change (without compensation). Dr                Journal; 16University of Winchester, UK, and World Association
  Helfand reported receiving honoraria for speaking engagements              of Medical Editors




                                                                                       on
  (all donated to Back from the Brink, IPPNW, or Physicians for So-
  cial Responsibility); support for travel and lodging for Nobel Peace
  Laureates summit, World Federation of Public Health Associations




                                                                                 e
  World Congress, and UN Human Rights Commission Youth Sum-
  mit; and serving on the boards for IPPNW and International Cam-                 In January 2023, the Science and Security Board of the Bul-
  paign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons (without compensation). Dr
  Ruff reported receiving consulting fees from the Institute for En-
  ergy and Environmental Research for related work; honoraria from
                                                                            us
                                                                             letin of the Atomic Scientists moved the hands of the Doomsday
                                                                             Clock forward to 90 seconds before midnight, reflecting the
                                                                             growing risk of nuclear war.1In August 2022, the UN Secretary-
                                                                            al
  the Choisun Ilbo media group and from Hyogo Medical Practition-
  ers Association and Peace Boat for presentations on nuclear
                                                                             General António Guterres warned that the world is now in “a
                                                         ci

  weapons; payment for serving as expert witness on radiation and            time of nuclear danger not seen since the height of the Cold
  health for Environmental Justice Australia; serving on a rotavirus         War.”2 The danger has been underlined by growing tensions be-
                                                       er


  vaccine development scientific advisory board for Murdoch Chil-            tween many nuclear armed states.1,3 As editors of health and
  dren’s Research Institute; serving on several committees related to        medical journals worldwide, we call on health professionals to
                                                      m



  nuclear weapons and prevention of nuclear war; and serving as co-          alert the public and our leaders to this major danger to public
  president of IPPNW. Dr Yonga reported serving as a principal in-
                                                                             health and the essential life support systems of the planet—and
                                          om




  vestigator for a COVID-19 antiviral for Atea Pharmaceuticals;
  receiving honoraria for lectures, presentations, and educational           urge action to prevent it.
  events from bioMerieux and Pfizer; serving on an advisory board                 Current nuclear arms control and nonproliferation efforts
  for Pfizer; and serving on committees or panels for the European           are inadequate to protect the world’s population against the
                                    -c




  Society of Clinical Microbiology and Infectious Diseases. Mr               threat of nuclear war by design, error, or miscalculation. The
  Zielinski reported receiving payment as senior advisor on the              Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons (NPT)
                           on




  IPPNW journals project. No other disclosures were reported.                commits each of the 190 participating nations “to pursue nego-
                                                                             tiations in good faith on effective measures relating to cessation
                     N




  Note: this Editorial is being published simultaneously in multiple
  journals. For the full list of journals see: https://www.bmj.com/con-      of the nuclear arms race at an early date and to nuclear disar-
  tent/full-list-authors-and-signatories-nuclear-risk-editorial-august-      mament, and on a treaty on general and complete disarmament
  2023.                                                                      under strict and effective international control.”4 Progress has
                                                                             been disappointingly slow and the most recent NPT review con-
  Received: 1 August 2023.                                                   ference in 2022 ended without an agreed statement.5 There are
                                                                             many examples of near disasters that have exposed the risks of
  Publisher’s note: all claims expressed in this article are solely those
                                                                             depending on nuclear deterrence for the indefinite future.6 Mod-
  of the authors and do not necessarily represent those of their affili-
  ated organizations, or those of the publisher, the editors and the re-
                                                                             ernization of nuclear arsenals could increase risks: for example,
  viewers. Any product that may be evaluated in this article or claim        hypersonic missiles decrease the time available to distinguish
  that may be made by its manufacturer is not guaranteed or endorsed         between an attack and a false alarm, increasing the likelihood
  by the publisher.                                                          of rapid escalation.
                                                                                  Any use of nuclear weapons would be catastrophic for hu-
  ©
   Copyright: the Author(s), 2023                                            manity. Even a “limited” nuclear war involving only 250 of the
  Licensee PAGEPress, Italy                                                  13 000 nuclear weapons in the world could kill 120 million peo-
  Bleeding, Thrombosis and Vascular Biology 2023; 2:94
                                                                             ple outright and cause global climate disruption leading to a nu-
  doi:10.4081/btvb.2023.94
                                                                             clear famine, putting 2 billion people at risk.7,8 A large-scale
  This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-                nuclear war between the US and Russia could kill 200 million
  NonCommercial 4.0 International License (CC BY-NC 4.0).                    people or more in the near term, and potentially cause a global
                                                                             “nuclear winter” that could kill 5 to 6 billion people, threatening


                                              Bleeding, Thrombosis and Vascular Biology 2023; 2:94
14                                                               K. Abbasi et al.




the survival of humanity. 7,8 Once a nuclear weapon is detonated,
escalation to all-out nuclear war could occur rapidly. The pre-              References
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