Cooperation not confrontation: the imperative of a nuclear age.

Abstract

Dyer, a member of the Medical Campaign Against Nuclear Weapons, reports on the Fifth Congress of International Physicians for the Prevention of Nuclear War (IPPNW), held in Budapest from 28 June to 1 July 1985. The main themes of the Congress were the current health costs of the arms race, and the role of a comprehensive test ban treaty in preventing nuclear proliferation. Officials from the World Health Organization and UNICEF lectured on diverting money from excessive arms spending to meet public health goals, such as making childhood immunization available worldwide by 1990. Delegates also were reminded of the dangers of allowing nuclear weapons to proliferate "vertically" into space and "horizontally" into presently non-nuclear nations, and of the need to revive negotiations for a test ban treaty. The conference concluded with messages to the leaders of the United States and the Soviet Union.