The U. S. A. and the Soviet Union are vying with each other in testing and producing nuclear weapons. China too has recently entered the race. These facts, together with the mounting rivalry and tension between the two Power Blocs, give rise to the fear that the world is perilously on the brink of a nuclear war.
The horrors of a nuclear war are unimaginable. We may have some idea of them by recalling the havoc caused by the dropping of the atom bomb on Hiroshima and Nagasaki towards the end of the Second World War. Not only were the two cities wiped out of existence but the atmosphere for miles around was polluted and people there fell victims to strange diseases. The destruction of entire cities and sudden deaths of millions of civilians caused by nuclear weapons are shocking enough.
But what is more shocking, though it is not adequately realised by laymen, is the disastrous effect of the use of such weapons on the survivors and their unborn children. The radioactive fallout spreads for miles around and causes untold harm to millions of innocent people. The radiation produced by the splitting of the atom causes mysterious diseases and leads to the birth of defective children. In fact, the fall-out from the nuclear tests and explosions in Siberia and the Pacific has already caused a lot of harm, though the Great Powers carrying out these experiments may not admit it. It is known, for example, that nuclear test made some years ago on the distant Marshall Islands affected the health of several Japanese fishermen.
The harm caused by wars in the past was limited. But modern warfare spells disaster to millions of innocent civilians and to the victors themselves who cannot escape from its harmful effects. As Bertrand Russell has said, “Unless mankind abolishes war, war will abolish mankind”. Some people argue that any one of the Big Powers will be reluctant to start a nuclear war since it knows that it cannot escape from its disastrous effects. But this argument ignores the danger inherent in the situation, which may burst out any day.
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It is not easy to suggest effective means of preventing a nuclear war. The efforts of the United Nations and negotiations between the Big Powers have not borne any fruit. So long as the Big Powers are actuated by selfishness, greed and false notions of superiority, conferences and meetings will not lead to anything constructive. There should be a change of heart on the part of the Big Powers, a realisation that war, particularly nuclear war, would spell disaster to all including themselves.
This change of heart can be brought about by carrying on anti-war propaganda in the world in general and in the powerful countries in particular. People should be informed of the horrors of atomic war, and a strong public opinion should be built up against the production and testing of nuclear weapons. The need for peaceful coexistence and settling international disputes by negotiations rather than war should be brought home to all people.
The task is essentially educational and can be performed if all the peace-loving people and organisations in the world work unitedly. Scientists too can play an important part in ridding the world of the monster of nuclear war. They can refuse to carry on research related to the production of deadly weapons of war like the atom bomb and the hydrogen bomb. They should take a vow to use science only for peaceful and constructive purposes.