Aiming for Prevention coordinator Maria Valenti and PSR Philadelphia Executive Director Patricia Harner joined IPPNW physicians Sina Helbig (Germany), Robert Mtonga (Zambia), Emperatriz Crespin (El Salvador), Ime John (Nigeria), and Cathey Falvo, Vic Sidel (US) in bringing an important health perspective to the Fourth Biennial Meeting of States (BMS) in New York City, which was convened to review implementation of the UN’s Programme of Action to combat the illicit trade in small arms and light weapons. Dr. Mtonga served on the official Zambian delegation and helped inject text on the importance of health into the Zambian statement submitted to the meeting.

more ...[Photo gallery on flickr.com]

COUNTDOWN TO ZERO is a stunning documentary about the escalating global nuclear arms crisis that premiered at Sundance Film Festival, was shown at TED Conference, screened at Cannes Film Festival and the Global Zero Summit in Paris. Produced by Academy Award winner Lawrence Bender (An Inconvenient Truth, Inglorious Basterds) and written and directed by Lucy Walker (The Devil’s Playground, Blind Sight), COUNTDOWN TO ZERO features an array of important international experts and statesmen and makes a case for worldwide nuclear disarmament.

more ...[Homepage of the film]  [Trailer for the film on YouTube]

In the nineteen sixties there were many who believed that there was a military threat from China against  Europe. “Optimists learn Russian, pessimists learn Chinese” was a common joke. “Whatever you say, China is hell on earth” I heard a respected politician say in 1965. So I went there to see for myself, together with about thirty other young persons, travelling the transsiberian railway. When after five weeks of travel in China I left Beijing, I cried. I cried because I thought I would never see this marvelous city again. I would be destroyed by a nuclear attack.

more ...[Article on peathhealthblog.com]

Palestinian Physicians For the Prevention of Nuclear War (PPPNW) and the Israeli Physicians For Peace and the Preservation Of The Environment (IPPPE) Affiliates of International Physicians For the Prevention of Nuclear War agree as follows:

more ...[The statement on peacehealthblog.com]

05/26/2010

Dr. Ira Helfand was interviewed by NPT-TV this month about the health and climate effects of nuclear war. Dr. Helfand was in New York as part of the IPPNW delegation at the 2010 NPT Review Conference, and participated in an expert panel to launch IPPNW's new publication, "Zero Is the Only Option."

more ...[official website of "Zero is the Only Option"]  [videoclips of the interviews on nuclear-zero.org]

Beating the Bomb is a documentary charting the history of the British peace movement against the backdrop of the atomic age, framing the nuclear weapons issue within the wider context of global justice. It was produced and directed by Meera Patel and Wolfgang Matt of MADD Movies: www.maddmovies.co.uk

more ...[Donation-page on medact.org]

05/26/2010

When the five-year review of the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons (NPT) convened in New York from May 3 - 28, 70 IPPNW doctors, medical students, and activists from 20 countries joined hundreds of other civil society representatives to demand fulfillment of the Treaty’s disarmament obligation some 40 years since its entry into force. 

more ...[photos on flickr.com]

05/26/2010

Rutger's University Press has just published Apocalypse Never: Forging the Path to a Nuclear Weapon-Free World, by IPPNW Writing Fellow Tad Daley. US Rep. Dennis Kucinich has called Apocalypse Never "a book that explains in common sense language the process for bringing a nuclear weapon–free world from utopia to reality.”

more ...[review on americanchronicle.com]

05/26/2010

This year's raffle will help a very special cause: youth organizing for a more peaceful world without nuclear weapons.
Support ongoing medical student activism and the 463 mile, 11 city 2010 BAN Tour and buy a raffle ticket before June 24!

more ...[article on ippnw.org]

05/18/2010

PSR has sent the following letter to President Obama, calling on the US to support inclusion of a call for a Nuclear Weapons Convention in the outcome document of the NPT Review Conference.

You can follow all of IPPNW's NPT activities and commentaries on the month-long deliberations at peaceandhealthblog.com.

more ...

04/07/2010

The long-awaited Nuclear Posture Review released yesterday by President Obama is the most important and thorough re-evaluation of US nuclear policy since the Cold War. While it is not a blueprint for rapid nuclear disarmament, it marks the first time the US has made the elimination of nuclear weapons a guiding principle, focusing more on reducing the dangers of nuclear weapons than on finding roles and rationales for them. This is a very welcome and long overdue course correction.

Like the New START agreement with Russia, the NPR begins to anticipate a world in which nuclear weapons no longer exist. Nevertheless, the pace for disarmament set by this review, which is intended to establish the framework for US nuclear policy for 10 years or more, is still too slow.

more ...[article on peaceandhealthblog.com]

IPPNW, a physicians’ organisation distinguished with the Nobel Peace Price in 1985, welcomes the cross-party resolution for a world without nuclear weapons, passed today in the German Parliament. “It is a unique occasion in Germany history that the withdrawal of the US nuclear weapons from Germany and a reduced role of nuclear weapons within Nato finds support from all political parties” said IPPNW chair Dr. Angelika Claußen.

more ...[Extracts from the motion]  [Official Translation of the full Motion]

03/18/2010

The internet course for Medical Peace Work starts on its second round. The cost-free training offer for physicians, healthcare professionals and medical students is online since two years. The course is subdivided into seven modules, which provide the participants with new insights about the role of healthcare professionals in peace progress.

more ...[Online course on medicalpeacework.org]

March 5th marked the 40th anniversary of the entry into force of the Non-Proliferation Treaty. It was an opportunity for governments and civil society to reflect on the current challenges facing the treaty before the Review Conference in May, and to consider ways to fulfil the promise at the core of the NPT — a nuclear-weapon-free world.

more ...[Remarks by Dr. John Burroughs, IALANA]  [Remarks by Tim Wright, ICAN]  [ICAN’s press release to mark the anniversary]

 03/09/2010

IPPNW has produced a major new briefing paper summarizing current medical and scientific knowledge about nuclear war and its consequences. Zero is the only option: Four medical and environmental cases for eradicating nuclear weapons draws extensively from the work of climate scientists including Alan Robock, O. B. Toon, and Michael Mills, who have documented the climate effects of regional nuclear war.

more ...[link to nuclear-zero.org]

CND's International Conference took place on October 10th at Mary Ward House in Central London. The day focused on the 2010 nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) and how campaigners can make an impact on negotiations towards abolition.

more ...[Link to ICAN-article]

One of the hallmarks of IPPNW’s work is engaging with nuclear decision makers about the medical consequences of nuclear war and the urgency of ridding the world of nuclear weapons. In pursuit if this kind of physician diplomacy, IPPNW held a seminar on nuclear disarmament with European Parliamentarians on October 13, 2009 in Brussels.

more ...

The new conservative-liberal government in Germany declared yesterday in their newly published coalition agreement that they would advocate the withdrawal of the remaining nuclear weapons in Germany. This means that the national campaign "our future – nuclear weapon-free" has reached an important milestone. The german section of IPPNW is one of a coalition of 50 German peace organisations and groups running this campaign.

more ...

As they did 24 years ago, when they awarded a group of physicians the Nobel Peace Prize for their work to stop the nuclear arms race, the Nobel Committee has once again used their power to leverage action on nuclear disarmament.  In attaching "special importance to Obama's vision of and work for a world without nuclear weapons" the Nobel Committee understands the significance of the transformational change that is necessary.

more ...

President Barack Obama’s decision to cancel US missile defense deployments in the Czech Republic and Poland ends a controversial and wasteful program that never should have been started in the first place. As a remnant of the Reagan-era ballistic missile defense scheme that came to be known as Star Wars, the proposed array of radars and interceptors was technically unsound, had become an obstacle to negotiations on strategic arms reductions with Russia, and was an unfortunate symbol of a domineering attitude in foreign affairs that President Obama had pledged to correct. On all three counts, he has done the right thing.

more ...

A new report, released today by Landmine Action in collaboration with Medact, shows that explosive weapons kill and injure more civilians than military personnel worldwide.

more ...[Link to Medact-article]

In March 2009, just before the historic first meeting between US President Barack Obama and Russian President Dmitry Medvedev, International Physicians for the Prevention of Nuclear War sent the two leaders a letter signed by more than 300 of the world’s top physicians, appealing for leadership toward a world without nuclear weapons. Our hopes and expectations were raised by the statements issued from the London meeting, and by President Obama’s speech in Prague a few days later, when he pledged “America's commitment to seek the peace and security of a world without nuclear weapons” and added that “as the only nuclear power to have used a nuclear weapon, the United States has a moral responsibility to act.”

more ...

On July 8, 2009 a meeting of NGO’s and Press took place successfully in Athens about "War crimes in Gaza – the case of DU". Maria Arvaniti Sotiropoulou President of the Greek Affiliate of IPPNW explained why we organized this meeting. She made a short review of DU weapons. IPPNW Greece was the first NGO which published the issue (1991) and in 2001 informed the press about the use of these weapons in Yugoslavia before NATO did. In the same year we forced the Greek government to accept that that the Greek army not only possessed but had already used these weapons in exercises of the Greek Navy.

more ...

IPPNW's new "Medical Voices Against Violence" project features stories of personal experiences with violence, especially gun violence, from IPPNW members - doctors, nurses, medical students and and other heath professionals. We will use these stories to educate others about the human costs of violence via IPPNW's "Aiming for Prevention" campaign, and to advocate for violence prevention using a public health approach.

more ...

International Physicians for the Prevention of Nuclear War regrets the nuclear test conducted by the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (DPRK). As an organization of doctors, we deplore the squandering of scarce resources of all the nuclear powers in the time of world wide economic recession on the development of weapons — especially weapons of mass destruction — instead of investing in health, education, economic development and other social needs that provide true security.

more ...

IPPNW was one of more than 75 non-governmental organizations (NGOs) participating in the 2009 Preparatory Committee meeting for the 2010 Review Conference of the Non-Proliferation Treaty at UN Headquarters in New York. The two-week PrepCom made important strides toward strengthening the disarmament and non-proliferation "pillars" of the NPT, which had come under enormous strain during the eight years of the Bush administration in the US.

more ...[IPPNW peace and health blog]

The IPPNW joint European – Russian /CIS meeting and Symposium "Nuclear Weapons, Violence and Health" took place in Helsinki, Finland from 23.-26.4.2009. The Particpants from Sweden, Norway, Finland, Denmark, Germany, Poland, Netherlands, UK, France, Portugal, Switzerland, Russia, Georgia, Kyrgyz Republic, Kazakhstan and Ukraine discussed a common European-Russia-CIS campaign on nuclear disarmament as part of the IPPNW ICAN campaign.

more ...[View the conference on video]

Most of the world is already finished with the idea of nuclear weapons. Public opinion polls in country after country—even in the nuclear-weapon states—reflect broad and growing support for a nuclear-weapons-free world. Serious mainstream politicians and diplomats, including US President Barack Obama, have embraced the goal of zero nuclear weapons, though they mostly advocate near-term— though important — incremental steps such as dealerting and making deeper cuts in the US and Russian arsenals, and stop short of calling for negotiations on a comprehensive, universal agreement—a nuclear weapons convention similar to the treaties that already ban chemical and biological weapons.

more ...

IPPNW notes with grave concern the use of white phosphorus by Israeli forces in the recent war against Gaza.  As physicians committed to reducing the suffering brought by warfare, we recognise the inhumane and indiscriminate effects of white phosphorus, and strongly condemn its use in armed conflict under any circumstances. 

more ...

During its first week in office, the new US administration of President Barack Obama published its foreign policy agenda on the revamped White House website. A summary of steps that Obama took as a US Senator to address the nuclear threat is followed by a series of explicit pledges to stop the development of new nuclear weapons, to take existing weapons off hair trigger alert, and to strengthen the Non-Proliferation Treaty.

more ...

We, physicians who have the mission to protect life and promote health, cannot accept the present suffering and bloodshed taking place in Gaza. We urge all parties to immediately take all the necessary steps to achieve an immediate, complete, and stable ceasefire in the Gaza Strip and the South of Israel, and to provide sufficient medical care for all the victims who suffer from severe injuries.

more ...

After eight dark years of neo-con rule, the American people voted for hope and change, backed by global demand for progressive new US leadership. It feels like a new dawn. The election of President Barack Obama brings newfound hope that the United States will become a champion for peace. During the campaign, President-Elect Obama pledged to end the Iraq war, to restore the rule of law, to close Guantánamo Bay, to reaffirm the Geneva Conventions, to pursue diplomacy, and to respect and participate in the United Nations.

more ...[What you can do]

ICAN welcomes Secretary General to the United Nations Ban Ki-moon's speech "The United Nations and Security in a Nuclear Weapons-Free World", made at an East-West Institute event on weapons of mass destruction and disarmament. Attended by Dr. Mohamed ElBaradei (Director of the IAEA), Dr. Henry Kissinger, and leaders from the E.U., China, India, Japan, Pakistan, and the USA, Ban Ki-moon specifically urged all nations to pursue a Nuclear Weapons Convention (NWC).

more ...

On October 17, 2008 the South Bridge connecting the cities Lewiston and Aubury in Main, USA was renamed after the IPPNW-founder Bernard Lown. Governor John E. Baldacci of Main expressed his hope that by renaming the bridge future generations will remember Bernard Lown and be inspired by his “incredible humanitarian efforts”.

more ...[Link zum Artikel im "Sunjournal"]

Over 150 people attended the London launch of Global Health Watch 2 at University College London on October 16th and the report is presently being launched in over 22 countries around the world. Produced by the People’s Health Movement, Medact and the Global Equity Gauge Alliance in South Africa, GHW2 presents an alternative view of health in the 21st century that is sorely needed.

more ...[More information]

63 years have passed since the nuclear bombings on Hiroshima and Nagasaki, which must be remembered for the excruciating human agony and devastating destruction of a kind never seen before. The “Global Voyage for a Nuclear-Free World – Peace Boat Hibakusha Project” has brought 102 Hibakusha (survivors of the atomic bombings) to Piraeus, Greece as part of the worldwide voyage to share their testimonies and the universal message of the Hibakusha that nuclear weapons must be abolished in order to never again allow their use. To this end, we join the global civil society call for a world free from nuclear weapons, underpinned by a Nuclear Weapons Convention.

more ...

On the occasion of the sixtieth anniversary of the NATO military organisation, we appeal to all people to come to Strasbourg and Kehl in April 2009, to protest against NATO’s aggressive military and nuclear policies, and assert our vision of a just world free of war. NATO is an increasing obstacle to achieving world peace. Since the end of the Cold War, NATO has reinvented itself as a tool for military action by the “international community”, including the promotion of the so-called “war on terror”.

more ...

“How close we came to extinction, and it is forgotten now.” So begins Nobel Prize-winner Bernard Lown’s story of his fight against the nuclear symptom of what he calls “the disease of militarism.” It is still active and highly contagious, as witnessed by events in Iran, North Korea, Pakistan, and all too many other places. And it can only be stopped, as this extraordinary memoir vividly demonstrates, by concerned citizens working together.

more ...[Flyer of the book]

From September 12th to 14th IPPNW Germany held its 3rd Open Congress for a Culture of Peace in the Urania in Berlin.  For three days 700 participants and experts were debating to identify paths to recovery and to promote constructive proposals for more peaceful world order. More than 50 experts from all over the world gave lectures, from Ecuador, Kenya, Canada, South Africa or Palestine.

more ...[Congress Website]

The US-India Deal Working Group of the international disarmament network, ABOLITION 2000,  in which IPPNW is involved, deplores the decision of the 45-nation Nuclear Suppliers Group (NSG) to approve a special exemption for India from its nuclear trade rules.
The exemption will allow India to participate in international nuclear trade, but, contrary to the claims of its advocates, it will not bring India further into conformity with the nonproliferation behavior expected of the member states of the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT).

more ...[Letter to Ambassador Lüdeking, January 2008]  [Letter to Minister Steinmeier, August 2008]

The armed conflict between Russia and Georgia is extremely dangerous and needs to be brought to a halt immediately. The impact on innocent civilians is mounting and, if allowed to continue, could spiral out of control. Further, were this territorial dispute to draw in neighboring European countries and the United States, the conflict could escalate into a confrontation between the two largest nuclear-armed states.

more ...