You are here: www.ippnw.eu
Blog by Frank Boulton, Medact
Is there a place for civil nuclear power in the 21st century?
14.10.2019 The strongest reasons to oppose expanding nuclear technology are the military links and weapons proliferation. Although the world will get more energy-hungry, reliable and cheaper renewables could rapidly replace fossil fuels with no need to expand the uneconomic nuclear option. Coordinating renewables’ expansion with poverty alleviation, especially in Africa, offers a win-win for promoting peace and reversing anthropogenic climate change through nuclear-free decarbonization.
To correspond with the recent publication of the paper ‘How Nuclear Power powers the Bomb’, co-authored by Angelika Claussen (European regional vice president of IPPNW), Frank Boulton (Medact) and Alex Rosen (IPPNW-Germany), Medact published a blog by Frank Boulton outlining the financial, environmental, health and geo-political arguments around nuclear power.
Healthcare workers stand with the Student Climate Strikers
20.09.2019 Millions of children and young people from around the world have been striking from school on Fridays to highlight political inaction on the climate crisis. The Youth Climate Strikers called on adults everywhere to get behind them on the 20th September and demand urgent climate action.
Medact has been working with healthcare workers across the UK to show health sector support for the youth climate strikes. On the 20th September, groups of healthcare workers took to the streets to participate in student-organized demonstrations in London, Glasgow, Oxford, Leeds, York, Birmingham, and Bristol. Workplace-based actions, to show support for the students’ demands, were also organised by healthcare workers who could not leave their patients to join the demonstrations.
New publication
How Nuclear Power powers the bomb
The interdependence of military and civilian nuclear industries
27.09.2019 Reuters recently reported that nuclear energy is both too slow and too expensive to present a meaningful response to the climate catastrophe facing our planet. So why are countries like the UK, France, Russia or China still investing in it? The answer lies in the demands of the military, who require a robust backbone of civil nuclear infrastructure for their nuclear weapons programs. This backbone includes the mining, refinement, transportation, enrichment and safeguarding of uranium, as well as research and development and a large number of nuclear engineers and scientists. Hence the investments in civil nuclear energy. Frank Boulton (MedAct), Angelika Claussen (IPPNW Europe) and Dr. Alex Rosen (IPPNW Germany) just published an informative publication on this subject.
IPPNW warns of dire consequences of military escalation in Kashmir
20.08.2019 International Physicians for the Prevention of Nuclear War (IPPNW) is calling on the Indian government to restore immediately all communications and freedom of movement in Kashmir and Jammu, and urging all states in the disputed border regions to initiate new diplomatic talks aimed at reducing tensions and negotiating a peaceful settlement to the long-standing conflict.
Medact Summer Newsletter
Access to Healthcare
15.08.2019 The main news from our access to healthcare campaign was the launch of our new online e-action, which allows you to write to the Department of Health and Social Care to tell them that you won’t stand by while they force the NHS to deny care to people who can’t pay.
In July, Medact was also featured in an investigation by the BBC that uncovered shocking examples of the way NHS charging is harming patients and embedding discrimination into the NHS. The show also featured an interview with an Overseas Visitor Manager – whose job it is to find and charge patients – in which they revealed how they would simply scan hospital lists and pick out people with “foreign sounding names”.
Medact Summer Newsletter
Fossil Free Health
Climate and Environment
15.08.2019 Our Fossil Free Health campaign had another big win in July: the Royal College of Emergency Medicine divested from fossil fuels! Huge congratulations to all of the Medact members and friends - Zoe, Michael, James, Tim, Sandy and Izzy - whose amazing work helped make this happen.
We are now writing to the Royal College of Midwives to encourage them to make the same bold step: please sign and share our letter with any midwives you know!
Medact is also partnering in the upcoming Fossil Free UK weekend training and networking event for fossil fuel divestment activists. This will include a number of health-specific divestment sessions and we’re hoping that our Fossil Free Health campaign will be well represented.Final date is TBC, but will be either 18-20th or 25-27th October.
Bolivia Ratifies TPNW — Treaty Now Halfway Towards Entry into Force
08.08.2019 On the 6 August 2019, Bolivia submitted its ratification of the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons (TPNW) to the United Nations, making it the 25th nation to ratify the treaty. Ambassador Sacha Llorentty Solíz (fourth from right) gave a moving speech in support of the total elimination of nuclear weapons. The TPNW has now reached the halfway point of its Entry into Force, as 50 states parties are needed for it to become International Law. This milestone was especially significant as Bolivia chose Hiroshima Day for its announcement, commemorating the 74th anniversary of the day the United States detonated a nuclear bomb over the City of Hiroshima in 1945. As we remember the hundreds of thousands of lives lost, we also look forward with hope that the TPNW will help us keep the promise of "never again". Congratulations to Bolivia for bringing us one step closer to our goal of banning and eliminating nuclear weapons.
Physicians for Social Responsibility Opposes US Withdrawal from the INF Treaty
05.08.2019 “Such a withdrawal would turn back the clock to a dangerous era”:
Physicians for Social Responsibility firmly opposes President Donald Trump’s dangerous decision to withdraw from the 1987 Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces (INF) Treaty. This vital landmark treaty entered into force during the Cold War, at the height of elevated tensions between the United States and Russia. It remains responsible for eliminating over 2,600 intermediate-range missiles, bringing tangible progress in stabilization and disarmament efforts between the two countries. Withdrawing from the INF Treaty would make Americans less safe and increase the risk of nuclear conflict between the United States and Russia.
23rd IPPNW World Congress to be held in Kenya
01.08.2019 The next IPPNW World Congress will be held in Mombasa, Kenya, from May 25-29, 2020.
"Disarmament, Development and Health" is a joint event of IPPNW and the Association of Physicians and Medical Workers for Social Responsibility (APMS), the Kenyan affiliate. Delegates from around the world will gather on Kenya's South Coast to discuss disarmament and development as a prerequisite for social justice, good health, and ecological sustainability in Africa and the world at large. Information about the program, accommodations, and registration will be updated regularly on the Congress website.
Interview with Dr. Ira Helfand, IPPNW
31.07.2019 On June 6th, we at Pressenza premiered our latest documentary film, “The Beginning of the End of Nuclear Weapons”. For this film, we interviewed 14 people, experts in their fields, who were able to provide insight into the history of the subject, the process which led to the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons, and current efforts to stigmatise them and turn the ban into elimination. As part of our commitment to make this information available to the whole world, we are publishing the full versions of those interviews, together with their transcripts, in the hope that this information will be useful for future documentary film makers, activists and historians who would like to hear the powerful testimonies recorded in our interviews.
This interview is with Dr. Ira Helfand, from International Physicians for the Prevention of Nuclear War, at his home in Massachusetts, on the 24th of September, 2018.
End the Detention of Children at the Border
PHR Doctors to U.S. Congress
23.07.2019 Physicians for Human Rights (PHR) is mobilizing thousands of doctors, nurses, and other medical professionals to raise the alarm about the mistreatment of people seeking asylum in the United States, and to use evidence to challenge cruel U.S. policies. Yesterday, PHR Asylum Network member and child psychiatrist Dr. Amy Cohen testified before a U.S. Senate committee hearing on the treatment of children at the U.S. southern border. In her powerful remarks to Congress, she asked: “Can we not agree that children running for their lives deserve our care and a chance to heal and grow? That these policies demean us all and reduce our standing in the world? Surely as doctors and legislators, as human beings, we must be able to come together on this.”
Prominent Turkish Physician and Human Rights Defender Acquitted
17.07.2019 PHR welcomes a Turkish court’s recent acquittal of Dr. Şebnem Korur Fincancı, a prominent human rights defender, anti-torture advocate, and PHR partner and 2017 gala honoree. Dr. Fincancı, president of the Human Rights Foundation of Turkey, was cleared of 2016 charges of disseminating “terrorist propaganda” after she guest edited a Kurdish newspaper critical of the Turkish government – but she continues to face a separate prison sentence for signing a peace petition that year. PHR Executive Director Donna McKay said: “While Dr. Fincancı’s acquittal is welcome news, she and many other physicians remain under threat of conviction and imprisonment simply for exercising their right to freedom of expression.” PHR calls on the Turkish government to respect freedom of speech and cease the persecution of medical professionals.
Deprivation and Despair
The Crisis of Medical Care at Guantánamo
26.06.2019 Medical neglect. Inconsistent medical records. Disregard of doctors’ recommendations. These are just some of the disturbing conditions that have become the norm at Guantánamo Bay detention center, where new investigations conducted by PHR and the Center for Victims of Torture have revealed systemic and longstanding deficiencies in care for detainees. The suffering endured by detainees directly contradicts U.S. officials’ claims that detainees are receiving adequate care and provides further evidence that Guantánamo should be closed immediately.
PSR Comment
Physicians for Social Responsibility Opposes War with Iran
21.05.2019 Washington, D.C. — In light of recent statements by National Security Advisor John Bolton and others in the Trump administration and military regarding potential escalation of a conflict with Iran, Physicians for Social Responsibility issued the following comment:
As an organization of medical and health professionals and advocates who mobilize on the greatest threats to human health and survival, Physicians for Social Responsibility (PSR) unequivocally opposes any attempt to escalate conflict or engage in war with Iran. The United States and Iran both have a vested interest in avoiding war. Declaring war is the purview of Congress, and PSR urges all Members of Congress to exercise their solemn duty to protect our nation’s interests and prevent war with Iran.
Medact Briefing Paper
Patients Not Passports–challenging healthcare charging in the NHS
13.05.2019 Patients Not Passports – challenging healthcare charging in the NHS is a new Medact briefing paper examining NHS charging and the introduction of immigration controls in the NHS. It is designed to be a tool used to support people in campaigning against the Hostile Environment. It sets out the policy and ideological background to NHS charging; reframes and challenges some of the arguments used to justify the policies; and presents evidence and analysis of the likely impact of restricting access to the NHS. It also includes new data on NHS Trust’s response to the policy and reveals how little has been done to mitigate or monitor the harm it will cause.
Medact Article, 26th April 2019
Activism, extractivism and the healthcare community
06.05.2019 A profit-driven, extractive economy is severely undermining the life support systems of the planet and exacerbating health inequities around the world. The fossil fuel industry epitomises the worst of what drives this system, and is responsible for impacting the health of hundreds of millions of people, through the climate change that it is driving. Those worst affected are people of colour in the global South. Meanwhile the profits of the fossil fuel industry are concentrated in the global North.
The Lancet, March 09, 2019
India and Pakistan: a plea for sanity
09.03.2019 In a new commentary just published in the prestigious medical journal The Lancet, IPPNW co-president Arun Mitra, Dr. Zulfiqar A Bhutta of Pakistan, and Lancet editor Richard Horton warn that the escalation of hostilities between India and Pakistan is “a matter of urgent public health concern” and call on both countries to pursue “diplomacy, dialogue, and the promotion of person to person contact and engagement between civil society representatives and youth.”
Medact, March 08, 2019
War, violence and the mental health crisis in Kashmir
08.03.2019 As tensions continue to rise in Kashmir after the Pulwama terror attack of February 2019 where over forty military personnel lost their lives, fear has, once again, gripped the Valley of Kashmir. Over four hundred separatists are claimed to have been arrested and local political organisations have been banned by the Indian central government.
The Fukushima nuclear disaster: 8 years on
By Tilman Ruff
11.03.2019 Eight years after the world’s most complex nuclear disaster, the damaged Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plants and spent fuel ponds are still leaking and dangerous, vast amounts of contaminated water continue to accumulate, 8000 odd clean-up workers labour daily and will need to for many decades, the needs of people exposed to radioactivity are still neglected, no one is in prison for a disaster fundamentally caused by the negligence of the operator and the government, and most of the lessons of Fukushima have yet to heeded.
Kashmir conflict risks nuclear war
IPPNW Statement
27.02.2019 IPPNW calls on India’s Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Pakistan’s Prime Minister Imran Khan to take immediate steps to deescalate the tensions in the disputed Kashmir region and to reduce the grave danger of nuclear war.
Recent acts of terror and military incursions in the long-disputed territory have exacerbated a conflict that threatens to plunge these two countries into a fifth and, conceivably, final major war since partition. Both countries have traded threats of nuclear retaliation. This is how nuclear war begins.
Child recruitment to the military
Report: "Selling the Military"
27.02.2019 Last week medact.org released their report co-written with ForcesWatch, Selling the Military: A critical analysis of contemporary recruitment marketing in the UK. In the report and at the launch event they explored the way in which the military develops its marketing in order to target young people, particularly those from disadvantaged backgrounds, and the implications this has on health and social inequality. You can read the report here.
Dr. Guddi Singh - Medact member and paediatrician - and Reem Abu-Hayyeh our Peace & Security Campaigner published an editorial in the BMJ Paediatrics Open on the ‘Adverse health effects of recruiting child soldiers’. You can read the editorial, see coverage of it in the Guardian and listen to an interview with Guddi on BBC Radio 4 (from 45.50min).
Red Cross urges world to “decide the future of nuclear weapons before they decide ours”
Global video campaign
11.02.2019 The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) and the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC) have launched a new global video campaign about the catastrophic humanitarian consequences of a nuclear war. The goal is to encourage people to urge their governments to sign and ratify the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons. Among the materials is a new video designed to engage “millennials” with the issue.
Could Spain be the first NATO State to sign the Nuclear Ban Treaty?
The Spanish government struck a deal with Podemos
06.12.2018 Good news just reached us from ICAN Spain: the left-wing political party Podemos got a commitment from the Spanish government to sign the UN Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons (TPNW). However, the government has not yet announced how and when they will implement this decision. This was a result of lobbying by ICAN, IPPNW’s Spanish representative Aurora Bilbao and Carlos Umana from IPPNW Costa Rica. At a round-table on “Achieving a world without nuclear weapons,” Aurora gave a powerful presentation on the humanitarian impact of nuclear weapons. Spain’s signature would represent a significant breakthrough for the TPNW among NATO states.
US and Russia must preserve INF Treaty, begin negotiations for nuclear abolition
24.10.2018 Donald Trump announced on Saturday that the United States will withdraw from the 1987 Treaty on Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces (INF), a decision confirmed by national security adviser John Bolton earlier this week. The following is a statement issued today by IPPNW’s executive committee.
World doctors urge world leaders to join the Treaty on Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons
10.10.2018 Nuclear weapons are weapons of mass extermination. In light of the terrible humanitarian and environmental effects that such weapons have, doctors and scientist have always warned the global society that such weapons must never be used again, and should be abolished. This weekend (October 5-6), I had the privilege to represent IPPNW at the general assembly of the World Medical Association in Reykjavik, Iceland. The WMA is a federation of 114 national medical associations from all over the world.
Anti-Trident March at Faslane
22.09.2018 On 22nd September Medact members tok part in the ‘Nae Nukes Anywhere’ peace rally at the Faslane Nuclear Base – home to the UK’s Trident submarines. Our Medact contingent joined hundreds of protestors on the stretch from the Peace Camp to the North Gate, and inspiring speakers included Makar Jackie Kay (Scottish poet laureate) and fellow poet, US ICAN co-ordinator and longtime friend of Medact Timmon Wallis. Medact members brought the health voice with our banners, placards and by handing out “prescriptions for nuclear disarmament” to interested members of the public.
IPPNW Peace and Health Blog
Youth-led nuclear disarmament
07.09.2018 IPPNW and IFMSA have enjoyed informal working relationships for years, and over the next month, I worked with the team at the IFMSA to create a session dubbed “Youth-led Nuclear Disarmament.” The session was going to explore how youth and students can speak against nukes as we all push governments to sign the TPNW. This opportunity reminded me of how our IPPNW founding fathers must have felt when they first united to speak against these nukes. I imagine they found seemingly insurmountable hurdles, but, like us, did not give up.
Peace and Health Blog, July 17th, 2018
Humanity is connected by common threats and shared benefits
17.07.2018 On 8 July 2018 Dr. Taipale delivered this address to President Trump and Putin from the balcony of the Old Student House in Helsinki, Finland: "You have awakened humanity from years of deep hibernation. And let’s not forget the North Korean leader, Kim Jong Un. Together you have reminded the peoples of the world about the existence of nuclear weapons. The greatest threat today is not global warming but nuclear weapons and the danger of nuclear war. Your colourful speeches have let the genie out the bottle. The spirit of nuclear disarmament has escaped, and can no longer be shut away. 122 countries have signed the United Nations’ Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty.
Peace and Health Blog, July 13th, 2018
The sea of death
13.07.2018 The US conducted 105 atmospheric and underwater tests at its Pacific Ocean proving ground from 1946-1962. Massive amounts of radioactive fallout from those tests spread across the Pacific, causing severe health effects that have continued to this day.
One of the best-known incidents from this reckless and shameful history was the fate of the Japanese fishing boat the Lucky Dragon. Despite being 90 miles away from ground zero, all 23 crew members were covered in thick layers of fallout from the March 1, 1954 Castle Bravo explosion, which, at 15 megatons, was the largest US nuclear test. The entire crew suffered from acute radiation sickness and were hospitalized for months. One crew member died from his injuries.
Letter to Macron, Merkel and May
IPPNW urges JCPOA parties to adhere to Iran agreement despite US withdrawal
18.06.2018 The national affiliates of IPPNW in France, Germany, and the UK, and IPPNW’s international leadership, have appealed to officials in the three governments to stand by the agreement that they made with Iran on their nuclear program. In a letter to President Macron, Chancellor Merkel, and Prime Minister May, reprinted here, IPPNW has urged the leaders to continue working closely with Iran’s government to ensure the obligations of the agreement continue to be met by all remaining parties to it.(June 18, 2018)
Talk given by Dr. Elizabeth Waterston
Taking the finger off the red button: De-escalating the risk of nuclear war
10.05.2018 There is general concern about the impulsive behaviour of the current President of the USA and this article addresses ways of de-escalating the danger of a nuclear exchange.
The 12 kiloton bomb dropped on Hiroshima in 1945 caused total obliteration over a distance of 3.2 km, and fires across 11km2. Some 70-80 thousand people or 30% of the population of Hiroshima died either immediately or over the next few weeks of blast, firestorms or radiation.
Peace and Health Blog, May 8th, 2018
Trump’s reckless Iran decision increases nuclear danger
08.05.2018 IPPNW condemns the withdrawal of the United States from the international nuclear weapons agreement with Iran, announced today by Donald Trump.
The decision by the US President to ignore key advisers and allies and to pull out of the nuclear agreement with Iran immediately increases the chances of new and intensified conflict in the Middle East and could provoke Iran into resuming its nuclear weapons program.
The International Atomic Energy Agency has certified Iran’s compliance since 2015, when the agreement to halt all activities that could lead to development of nuclear weapons was reached with the United States, the United Kingdom, Russia, France, and China, Germany, and the European Union.
Peace and Health Blog, April 30th, 2018
Global health leaders rally behind the Ban Treaty
30.04.2018 The International Committee of the Red Cross and the World Medical Association have issued important and very timely calls for states to join and implement the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons. On April 23, ICRC president Peter Maurer, reiterating the ICRC’s long-standing appeal “to all States, global leaders and citizens to act on the increasing risk of the use of nuclear weapons,” said that “States should take the necessary steps to adhere to the 1972 NPT, the 1996 Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty, the 2017 Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons and other nuclear disarmament and non-proliferation treaties to which they are not yet party and fully implement their provisions.”
ICAN & PAX, March 7th, 2018
Don't Bank on the Bomb 2018
07.03.2018 ICAN partner organization PAX has published a new edition of the landmark report detailing global investments in companies that produce nuclear weapons. The 2018 update of Don’t Bank on the Bomb shows that 329 financial institutions from around the world have invested US $525 billion into 20 companies involved in the production, maintenance and modernization of nuclear weapons in France, India, the United Kingdom, and the United States since January 2014. Fourteen country profiles provide details about nuclear-weapons-related work of identified producers and the financial institutions that support this work. On the positive side, Pax researchers found that the number of institutions that have financial relationships with nuclear weapon producers has decreased since the adoption of the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons.
ICAN Australia, February 26, 2018
Dr. Wareham awarded Canberra Rotary Peace Prize
26.02.2018 IPPNW Board member Dr. Sue Wareham has received the first Chief Minister’s Rotary Peace Prize in Canberra. Attorney-General and Minister for the Arts and Community Events, Gordon Ramsay presided over the award ceremony at the unveiling of the Canberra Rotary Peace Bell in February. Dr. Wareham called on Australia to rethink the policy of building an economy on war profiteering and having a vested interest in wars and instability. “Going to war should not be the thing that Australia is good at and the thing that Australians recognise as central to their identity,” she said.
SNDWM, Nigeria, February 13, 2018
“Service to humanity” is heartbeat of IPPNW Nigeria Radio Project
13.02.2018 The IPPNW Nigeria Radio Project has at its heartbeat “service to humanity”- creating awareness of the threat armed violence poses to health and healthy communities and providing relevant information about public health approaches to preventing armed violence, thus equipping the public with knowledge that can drive peace building in society.
Read the full article on the Peace & Health Blog
Scientists' appeal, November 2, 2017
Climate Conference: Don´t nuke the Climate
Scientists’ appeal to the COP and the UNFCCC
18.11.2017 From November 6th to 17th, 2017 the UN Climate Conference was held in Bonn, Germany. During the conference the nuclear industry was intensively lobbying for access to climate funding mechanisms such as the UN Green Climate Fund for its outdated and dangerous nuclear technology. The international campaign “Don’t nuke the climate” forwarded a letter to the German environmental minister Barbara Hendricks which was signed by 70 scientists. In this letter scientists argue that nuclear energy is not the solution to climate change: It is too dirty, too dangerous and also would take too long to be a meaningful answer to global warming.
Moreover, the new nuclear power plant Hinckley Point in the UK is being built – not to solve energy problems, but to hide the costs for the British nuclear weapons program.
Action for the ban of nuclear weapons
Demonstrators in Germany protest US, North Korea tensions
18.11.2017 On November 18, 2017 IPPNW and ICAN and the Berlin peacemovement organized a great action for the ban of nuclear weapons and asked chancellor Merkel to sign the ban treaty. 700 people built a human chain between the US embassy and the North Korean embassy. Two person dressed up as Donald Trump and Kim Jong-un together with their specific nuclear bombs which they moved all the way between the two embassies. In the Middle, in front of the Brandenburger Tor, they had to meet with UN General secretary Antonio Gutérres and chancellor Merkel. Merkel was convinced to sign the weapons ban treaty this way.
23rd IPPNW World Congress 25th to 29th May 2020
IPPNW Bike Tour 2020
19th - 24th May 2020
Naivasha - Nairobi - Mombasa
More information
No War on Iran
Trump vs. Putin: A new nuclear arms race?
Medical Peace Work
Medical Peace Work
Online Courses
