Hiroshima’s Hibakusha: The Costs of Human Health in a Nuclear Age

Abstract

At the end of World War II, Japan, as well as the rest of the world, was thrust into a new age of unbelievably destructive possibilities: the first use of nuclear weapons against human beings. Not only could such a bomb flatten an entire city, it could do so in only an instant. The poorly understood scars that were left showed a new level of war that the world needs to come to terms with. By considering the many medical effects of the atomic bomb on the victims of Hiroshima City, which encompasses the initial blast, radiation, and traumatic effects, we can gain a better understanding of the terrible costs of human health in nuclear war.