Medical Resources After Nuclear War-Reply

Abstract

In Reply.— Dr Orient apparently believes that the effort by physicians to present the public with facts on the medical consequences of nuclear war is less important than massive investments in preparation for civil defense against nuclear war. Not long ago I participated in a panel discussion with a Midwestern state director of civil defense. He made the point that he was confronted by three or more critical civil disasters weekly, without adequate resources to handle them. The reason, in his judgment, lay in the diversion of civil disaster funding, administered by the Federal Emergency Management Agency, to military purposes. All physicians must be concerned with preparation for civil disaster; all physicians must insist that adequate funds be allocated, so long as they can be appropriately used to save lives. But, equally, all physicians must insist that billions wasted on programs based on a failure to understand the devastation that