For the 25 years since the founding of Physicians for Social Responsibility (PSR) and the publication of our initial articles on the medical consequences of nuclear war (ll), my colleagues and I have been addressing-in articles, books, lectures, and films-the medical consequences of the use of nuclear weapons and what we believe to be the consequent responsibility of physicians: Since doctors can do almost nothing to deal with the medical problems once the bombs have fallen, they must, by analogy with other nontreatable medical problems, work actively for their prevention. Over the past 5 years, many members of PSR have been writing and speaking on a closely related topic: the consequences of the arms race to the health and well-being of people even if the arms themselves are never used directly to kill and maim-a topic that has been termed “destruction before detonation” (1 I13). In our presentations in the United States, we usually concentrate on arms expenditures by the United States and their impact on the health and wellbeing of our people, because we believe that to be the special responsibility of U.S. health workers (13). While I touch on that here, at this international symposium I concentrate instead on arms expenditures by the entire world and on what I believe to be the responsibility of health workers in every nation-rich and poor, aligned and nonalignedto protest what is being spent in their own nations on arms and their responsibility to bring to those in power in their societies knowledge of the ways in which these resources can be used to strengthen health and health services in their own countries and throughout the world.