Nature and nuclear war

Wars and preparations for them, such as tests of new types of armament, are having a tremendous destructive effect on the natural environment. New types of weaponry, including shells with great explosive force, chemical substances and incendiary agents, used in recent wars, have produced a destructive effect on the environment.In South Vietnam, herbicides completely destroyed 1,500 square kilometers of vegetation and caused damage to 15,000 square kilometers of land; at the same time, natural restoration of vegetation there is catastrophically slow. About 100 kilogrammes of dioxin was sprayed as an additive to one of those defoliants, and precisely dioxin is still regarded to be the cause of congenital defects in children, numerous miscarriages and liver cancer.

Millions of people in South-east Asia were drive out of their homes and from the plots they filled. This resulted in a further worsening of the environment, including the growth of secondary vegetation and destruction of drainage to systems. Decades will be needed to get rid of the results of these numerous violations.

Even greater damage to the environment may be done if the new types of weapons presently being developed are widely used. A nuclear war would destroy all the principal towns of the Northern Hemisphere; it would destroy a considerable part of the urban population as a result of blast and fire, and a considerable part of the rural population through radioactive irradiation. In addition, many millions of people of the Southern Hemisphere would perish on account of radioactive fallout. Even though it is difficult to foresee the longterm consequences of a nuclear war, they would globally affect the climate, causing the ozone layer to seriously deplefe. Besides, radioactive affection would cause genetic consequences.

The previous experimental nuclear blasts have seriously contaminated the atmosphere with radioactive materials and caused damage to considerable areas of the Earth’s surface.

A ten-kiloton nuclear blast can cause complete or partial destruction of vegetation over 400 to 1,300 hectares. The use of nuclear weapons in a large-scale war would destroy vegetation and erode soil over vast territories, and lead to blow-outs of huge amounts of radioactive dust into the stratosphere. On the other hand, nuclear blasts in the stratosphere would temporarily decrease the concentration of ozone and increase the extent of ultraviolet irradiation of the Earth’s surface causing a number of unfavourable effects on man and the ecosystem.

The use of the neutron bomb, i. c., a not so powerful nuclear weapon designed chiefly to put people out of action by affecting them with ionising radiation, rather than by blast or high temperature, would also result in considerable damage to the environment. Experts have calculated that an explosion of a one-kiloton neutron bomb at an attitude of 200 metres would destroy a major portion of microorganisms over 40 hectares, a multitude of insects over 100 hectares, amphibia and reptiles over 350 hectares, and also numerous species of unprotected mammals and birds over an area of 490 hectares.

The use of chemical and biological weapons could also result in very serious ecological consequences. Chemical dehydration of tropical regions with vulnerable soils, or of semi-arid regions already on the dangerous verge of desertification could causerapid soil erosion and irreversible consequences. Wide use of incendiary substances like napalm could lead to similar results. The experience of recent wars in Southeast Asia shows that even in areas characterized by ecological stability, it is possible to remedy the damage inflicted by fire and chemical substances only after a very long period of time.

An increase in the world stockpiles of weapons and in their destructive force presents an obvious danger to man and the environment. Even tests of these weapons could lead to serious ecological damage. The use of weapons agains the environment could result in the danger of long-term or even irreversible damage to soils, farming, and ecological balance.