Joining the Call to End Nuclear Weapons, Before They End Us
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.32412/pjohns.v40i1.2557Keywords:
nuclear power, war, atomic energy, radiation, nuclear weapons, global health emergencyAbstract
The Philippine Journal of Otolaryngology Head and Neck Surgery previously co published two guest editorials, on “Reducing the Risks of Nuclear War— the Role of Health Professionals”1 and “Time to Treat the Climate and Nature Crisis as One Indivisible Global Health Emergency”2 that addressed dual potentially catastrophic concerns that both place us “on the brink.”3
By co-publishing these guest editorials, the Philippine Journal of Otolaryngology Head and Neck Surgery joined the call for “health professional associations to inform their members worldwide about the threat to human survival and to join with the International Physicians for the Prevention of Nuclear War (IPPNW) to support efforts to reduce the near-term risks of nuclear war.”1 As enumerated in the editorial,1 we urged three immediate steps that should be taken by nuclear-armed states and their allies: 1) adopt a no first use policy;4 2) take their nuclear weapons off hair-trigger alert; and 3) urge all states involved in current conflicts to pledge publicly and unequivocally that they will not use nuclear weapons in these conflicts. It is alarming that no progress has been made on these measures.
Thus, on our 44th Anniversary, we join over 150 scholarly scientific journals worldwide in co-publishing another Guest Editorial on “Ending Nuclear Weapons, Before They End Us.”5 We call on the World Health Assembly (WHA) to vote this May on re establishing a mandate for the World Health Organization (WHO) to address the consequences of nuclear weapons and war,6 and urge health professionals and their associations (including otolaryngologists – head and neck surgeons, all surgeons and physicians, and the Philippine Society of Otolaryngology – Head and Neck Surgery, Philippine College of Surgeons, Philippine College of Physicians,
Philippine Academy of Family Physicians, Philippine Pediatric Society, Philippine Obstetrical and Gynecologic Society, Philippine Society of Anesthesiology, Philippine College of Radiology, Philippine Society of Pathologists, other specialty and subspecialty societies, and the Philippine Medical Association) to urge the Philippine Government to support such a mandate and support the new United Nations (UN) comprehensive study on the effects of nuclear war.7
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Copyright transfer (all authors; where the work is not protected by a copyright act e.g. US federal employment at the time of manuscript preparation, and there is no copyright of which ownership can be transferred, a separate statement is hereby submitted by each concerned author). In consideration of the action taken by the Philippine Journal of Otolaryngology Head and Neck Surgery in reviewing and editing this manuscript, I hereby assign, transfer and convey all rights, title and interest in the work, including copyright ownership, to the Philippine Society of Otolaryngology Head and Neck Surgery, Inc. (PSOHNS) in the event that this work is published by the PSOHNS. In making this assignment of ownership, I understand that all accepted manuscripts become the permanent property of the PSOHNS and may not be published elsewhere without written permission from the PSOHNS unless shared under the terms of a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International (CC BY-NC-ND 4.0) license.
