Transcript Health Consequences of War and Militarism

Weapons
of
Mass Destruction
Martin Donohoe
Outline

The history and epidemiology of war

Nuclear weapons

Chemical weapons

Biological weapons
Outline
 Economic
and environmental
consequences of militarism and
war
 Health consequences of militarism
and war
 Contemporary issues
History of war

10,000 yrs ago – agriculture
–



Stable populations, division of labor, warrior class
3500 yrs ago – bronze weapons and armor
2200 yrs ago – iron
1900 yrs ago - horses
History of war


Ninth Century China - bombs developed
Thirteenth Century China – rockets
–
Forgotten until the 19th Century

1783 - Balloon
1903 - Airplane

20th Century - WMDs

History of War
 Belief
that each new invention
would eliminate warfare
 Instead,
increased casualties,
killing at a distance
Epidemiology of Warfare


Deaths in war:
– 17th – 19th Century = 11-19/million
population
– 20th Century = 183/million population
Increasing casualties to civilians
– 10% late 19th Century
– 85-90% in 20th Century
Contemporary Wars




250 wars in the 20th Century
Incidence of war rising since 1950
Most conflicts within poor states
27 separate civil wars currently underway
– 19 involve U.S.-supplied weapons
War Deaths, 1945-2000
Consequences of War
 Deaths,
injuries, psychological
sequelae
 Collapse of health care system
affecting those with acute and
chronic illnesses
 Famine
Consequences of War
 Refugees
 Environmental
degradation
 Increasing poverty and debt
 All lead to recurrent cycles of
violence
Atomic Weapons - History
Hiroshima, August 6, 1945
– “The day that humanity started taking
its final exam” – Buckminster Fuller
– 15 kiloton bomb, 140,000 deaths
 Nagasaki, August 9, 1945
– 22 kiloton bomb, 70,000 casualties

Atomic Weapons – Other Victims
 Hundreds
of thousands of hibakusha
– atomic bomb survivors
 80,000 cancers (15,000 fatal) in US
citizens as a result of fallout from
atmospheric testing
– NCI/CDC
Atomic Weapons Today
 20,000
nuclear weapons
 Several thousand megatons
 US and Russia have 13,000
actively deployed warheads
Atomic Weapons Today


2500 (US) and 2000 (Russia) on high alert
– Fired within 15 minutes, reach targets in
30 minutes
Vastly redundant arsenal
– 150-200 weapons adequate to destroy all
major urban centers in Russia
Atomic Weapons Today
Accidental intermediate-sized
launch of weapons from a
single Russian submarine
would immediately kill 6.8
million Americans in 8 cities
Nuclear Weapons – Oops!



Pentagon: 32 nuclear weapons accidents
since 1950
GAO: 233
Since 1950, 10 nuclear weapons lost and
never recovered
–
All laying on seabed, potentially leaking
radioactivity
Effects of a Nuclear Explosion

Immediate:
–
Vaporized by thermal radiation
–
Crushed by blast wave
–
Burned and suffocated by firestorm
Effects of a Nuclear Explosion

Intermediate:
– Suffering, painful deaths
– Health care personnel/resources
overwhelmed
– Famine
– Refugees
– Devastated transportation infrastructure
Effects of a Nuclear Explosion

Late effects:
– Cancer
– Psychological trauma
– Nuclear winter (mass starvation due
to disruption of agricultural,
transportation, industrial and health
care systems)
Effects of a 20 megaton nuclear
explosion

Ground zero → 2 miles:
– Fireball hotter than sun
– everything vaporized

2 - 4 miles:
– Buildings ripped apart and leveled
Effects of a 20 megaton nuclear
explosion


4 - 10 miles:
– Sheet metal melts; concrete buildings
heavily damaged (all others leveled)
16 miles:
– 100 mph winds, firestorm, T = 1400° C
– 100% mortality
Effects of a 20 megaton nuclear
explosion



21 miles:
– Shattered glass, flying debri
29 miles:
– 3° burns over all exposed skin
40 miles:
– Retinal burns blind all who witness
explosion
Effects of a 20 megaton nuclear
explosion over Boston

Death toll:
– 1,000,000 within minutes
– 1,800,000 survivors:
1,100,000 fatally injured
500,000 with major injuries
200,000 without injuries
Types of Injuries






Burns
Blindings
Deafenings
Collapsed lungs
Fractures
Shrapnel wounds
Radiation Sickness

Medium to high doses: death within 1-7
days

Low doses: BM failure, infections,
bleeding, sores, ± death
Effects on health professionals
 70%
killed or fatally wounded
 15%
injured
<
1000 survive
Effects on health care system
 Most
major hospitals destroyed
 EMS system debilitated
 No X-ray machines, electricity,
water, antibiotics or other meds,
blood/plasma, bandages
Effects on health care system
 2000
burn unit beds in US (100 per
major city) – essentially destroyed
 No bone marrow transplant
capability
Effects on Health Care System

1500 patients/doctor

10 min/pt

4 hours sleep/noc

2 weeks to see all injured
Nuclear Terrorism


Attack on nuclear power plant or other
nuclear installation
Dirty bomb
– Potential tens to hundreds of thousands of
deaths, billions of dollars of damage,
chaos
– Numerous radiation sources left over from
Cold War in post-Soviet countries
Nuclear Terrorism

Reports of weapons/numerous radiation
sources missing from Soviet arsenal

The Nth Country experiment (1964): 3
science post-docs with no nuclear knowhow designed a working atom bomb
Chemical Weapons



428 BC – Athenians and Spartans burned wax, pitch
and sulfur
Davinci – arsenic and sulfur shells
WW I
– Italians vs. Ethiopians
– Japanese vs. Chinese
– Germans vs. Allies
 chlorine gas
 91,000 deaths and 1.3 million injuries
Chemical Weapons



Egypt vs. South Yemen (1963-7)
Iran/Iraq War (1980s)
Gulf War (versus Kurds, ? Others)
–

Gulf War Syndrome (real per Congressionallymandated scientific panel, 2008)
1995 Tokyo subway attack by Aum Shrinko
cult using sarin
–
12 dead, 5000 injured or incapacitated
Types of Chemical Weapons

Nerve gasses / paralytics
–
–
–
E.g., sarin, VX
S/S: paralysis (incl. resp. muscles), headache,
dizziness, N/V
Rx: ± gas masks, pretreatment with
pyridostigmine, decontamination, antidotes
(atropine, pralidoxime, diazepam, tropicamide)
Types of Chemical Weapons

Blistering agents:
– E.g., sulphur mustard
– S/S: burns, blindness, pulmonary
toxicity, BM suppression, N/V/D
– Rx: decontamination, analgesia,
pulmonary and eye care
Types of Chemical Weapons

Pulmonary toxicants
– E.g., chlorine, phosgene
– S/S: pneumonitis, laryngeal spasm,
pulmonary edema, ARDS
– Rx: O2, bronchodilators,
corticosteroids, ?ibuprofen,
?acetylcysteine
Chemical Weapons


1972 Biological and Toxic Weapons
Convention prohibits development,
production, and stockpiling
1989 stockpiles:
–
–

US – 36,000 tons
Russia – 270,000 tons (1/2 = nerve gas)
Current amounts unclear
Other Chemical Weapons
 Tear
gas, pepper spray
 Calmatives: mind-altering or sleepinducing weapons (benzo-, SSRI-,
and anesthetic derivatives)
 Cramp-inducing agents
Other Chemical Weapons
 Stink
bombs (“?Race specific?”)
 Colored smoke as an obscurant
 Crowd control vs use in warfare
 US pilot amphetamine use
Biological Weapons - History
Ancient Greeks, Romans and Persians
 US Civil War (General Johnson at
Vicksburg)
 14th Century: Tatars catapulting plagueinfested corpses

Biological Weapons - History

Sir Jeffrey Amherst (French and Indian Wars
- smallpox): “You would do well to try to
inoculate the Indians, by means of blankets,
… to extirpate this execrable race”

WW I: Cholera, plague, glanders, anthrax
Biological Weapons – WW II



Unit 731, Manchuria, Shiro Ishii
British “Operation Vegetarian” (anthrax cakes
/ Germany)
US military personnel received typhoid,
smallpox, yellow fever and tetanus vaccines
Biological Weapons Post WWII
 Swerdlosk
- anthrax
 Zimbabwe
- anthrax
Biological Weapons Today


17 countries possess (+ Al Qaeda?)
US role in supplying other nations:
–
e.g., 1985-1989: US companies sold to Iraq:


Bacillus anthracis, Clostridium botulinum, Histoplasma
capsulatum, Brucella melitensis, Clostsridium
perfringens, Clostridium tetani, and E. coli
Despite evidence of use of chemical weapons against
Kurds
Biological Weapons Today



1972 Biological Weapons Protocol: signed by
158 nations
Lacks adequate enforcement mechanisms
US has rejected enforcement (wary of
foreign inspectors discovering military
secrets and/or trade secrets of biotechnology
and pharmaceutical companies)
Biological Weapons - Agents
Anthrax
Brucellosis Cholera
Glanders
Pneumonic plague
Tularemia
Q Fever
Smallpox
Venezuelan Equine Encephalitis
Viral Hemorrhagic Fevers (e.g., Ebola)
Botulism
Staph enterotoxin B
Ricin
Mycxotoxins
Biological Weapons of the Future
weapons – targeted at
specific ethnic groups
 Genetic
Smallpox
DNA virus; decimated native American
populations; eradicated by WHO
vaccination campaign in 1972
 ?Only remaining viral stocks at CDCP
and in Siberia?

Smallpox
 Incubation
period 7-17 days (avg.
= 12)
 Spread by droplet infection; highly
contagious
 Symptoms: abrupt onset of
F/HA/myalgias → rash → MSOF
→ death
Smallpox
 Rx:
isolation, post-exposure
vaccination, supportive care,
?antivirals
 30
% fatality rate
Anthrax

Cutaneous, GI and Pulmonary forms

Est. 50kg release over urban center of 5
million people would sicken 250K and kill
100K

100 kg release would have the same # of
casualties as a hydrogen bomb explosion
Inhalational Anthrax
Case fatality rate approx. 50%
 Rx:
– Post-exposure antibiotics
(doxycycline, ciprofloxacin, penicillin)
– Supportive care
 Vaccine

Other WMDs
 Small
arms
 Land
mines
 Cluster
bombs
Health Care System Preparadness for
Weapons of Mass Destruction



¾ of US ERs not fully prepared for treating
mass casualties
Only 12% of US hospitals have bioterrorism
response measures developed and in place
Congressional panel estimates > 50%
chance of terrorist act involving WMDs by
2013
Health Care System Preparedness for
Weapons of Mass Destruction
US public health / emergency care
system already in disarray
 80% of states facing budget cuts or
holdbacks
 Medicaid over budget in 23 states
 Anti-immigrant laws dangerous

Priorities and Mass Destructions
Warning:
Progressive Rhetoric
Ahead….
Military Spending
US: ½ of discretionary tax dollars spent
on the military
 US military budget represents 34% of
total world military budget ($1.035
trillion in 2004)
 $400+ billion defense budget for 2003
(excluding costs of war in Iraq)
 Iraq War costs up to $2 trillion

Military Spending
4.6% increase in spending on nuclear
weapons
 11.5% decrease in spending to prevent
the spread of chemical, biological, and
nuclear weapons ($773 million)

Arms Exports
Arms Imports
Missile Defense Shield
The Militarization of Space

Star Wars program proceeding, despite:
–
–
–

Astronomical cost – est. $100 billion
Strong opposition by scientific community
Spectacular failures in 2/4 tests, despite highly
structured conditions
Abandonment of ABM Treaty by Bush
administration
Missile Defense Shield
The Militarization of Space

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
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“Shield” or very porous umbrella
Easily overwhelmed and fooled by
inexpensive decoys
No protection against internal accidents or
terrorists bringing weapon onto US soil or
“dirty bomb”
Proposed use of moon for spy observatories
and weapons
Dwight Eisenhower
“The problem in defense spending is
to figure out how far you should go
without destroying from within that
which you are trying to protect from
without”
Social Injustices Abound




46 million Americans lack health insurance
→ 18,000 deaths per year
20-25% of US children live in poverty
Worsening homelessness, public educational
system, other social indicators
1.2 billion people have no access to clean
drinking water
-2 million child deaths/year
Social Injustices

Worldwide
– poverty
increasing
– maldistribution of wealth
– corporatization
– global debt crisis
Social Injustices

Worldwide
–
–
–
–
environmental destruction and global
warming
Air pollution kills 70,000/yr in US, >500K/yr
worldwide
AIDS epidemic in sub-Saharan Africa
70,000 die of hunger every 2 days (i.e.,
one Hiroshima every 2 days)
Health Costs of Militarization
3
hours of world arms spending =
annual WHO budget
 ½ day of world arms spending =
immunization for all the world’s
children
Health Costs of Militarization

3 weeks of world arms spending =
primary health care for all in poor
countries, including safe drinking water
and full immunizations

Brain drain: 1/2 of US research
scientists work entirely on military R
and D
Dwight Eisenhower
“Every gun that is made, every rocket
fired, signifies in the final sense a theft
from those who hunger and are not fed,
those who are cold and not clothed”
Dwight Eisenhower
“This world is not spending money alone. It is
spending the sweat of its laborers, the genius
of its scientists, the hopes of its children. This
is not a way of life at all, in any true sense.
Under the cloud of threatening war, it is
humanity hanging from a cross of iron.”
Martin Luther King
“A nation that continues year after
year to spend more money on
military defense than on programs
of social uplift is approaching
spiritual death.”
US Foreign Aid


US ranks 21st in the world in foreign aid as a
percentage of GDP (0.7%, versus UN
recommended 0.15%)
Foreign Aid:
–
–
–

1/3 military
1/3 economic
1/3 food and development
US world’s largest arms exporter – many
weapons later used against us
Current Problems
 Budget
surplus → budget deficit
 Iraq
 Afghanistan
 Others?
 War
on Terror
New US Nuclear Weapons Policies
Under GW Bush




Nuclear Posture Review – expands scope of
use of nuclear weapons, including first-strike
against non-nuclear states
Withdrawal from ABM Treaty
Boycotted Comprehensive Nuclear Test Ban
Treaty Conference
Budgeted money to resume nuclear testing
and development
The US: Rogue Nation



History: Native Americans, slavery, current
disparities and injustices
5% of the world’s population; responsible for
25% of its energy consumption, 33% of its
paper use, and 72% of its hazardous waste
production
Co-opting Nazi and Japanese WWII
scientists
The US: Rogue Nation


Minimum 277 troop deployments by the US in its
225+ year history
Since the end of WWII, the US has bombed:
–
–
China, Korea, Indonesia, Cuba, Guatemala, Congo, Peru,
Vietnam, Laos, Cambodia, Nicaragua, El Salvador,
Grenada, Libya, Panama, Afghanistan, Sudan, Yugoslavia,
and Iraq
Conservative estimate = 8 million killed
The US: Rogue Nation

In 2002, the US spent about $1,211 per US
citizen on defense
–

vs. $2.27 per citizen on international
peacekeeping efforts
The US maintains military bases in 69
“sovereign” nations around the world
The US: Rogue Nation

Continued funding of the Western
Hemisphere Institute for Security
Cooperation
–
–
Formerly the School of the Americas
Over 60,000 graduates, including many of the
worst human rights abusers in Latin America
(e.g., Manuel Noriega, Omar Torrijos, and the
assassins of Archbishop Oscar Romero)
International NonCooperation/Isolationism

Failure to sign or approve:
–
–
–
–
Kyoto Protocol on Climate Change
Convention on the Prohibition of Anti-Personnel
Land Mines
Comprehensive Nuclear Test Ban Treaty
Convention on the Rights of the Child
International NonCooperation/Isolationism

Failure to sign or approve:
–
–
–
Convention on the Elimination of Discrimination
Against Women
Convention on Economic, Social and Cultural
Rights
Convention for the Suppression of Traffic in
Persons
The US: Rogue Nation

Death Penalty:
–
–



US executes more of its citizens than any other
country
US is the only country to execute both juveniles
and the mentally ill
Failure to follow World Court Decisions
Oppose International Criminal Court
Largest debtor to the UN (only 40% of dues
paid)
The role of the doctor in society

World Health Organization:
–

“The role of the physician … in the
preservation and promotion of peace
is the most significant factor for the
attainment of health for all.”
Physicians for Social Responsibility
Contact Information
Public Health and Social Justice
Website
http://www.phsj.org
[email protected]