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Physicists Sign Petition Against Proposed Change of US Nuclear Policy

Posted on: Thursday, 27 October 2005, 09:00 CDT

Physicists sign petition against proposed change of US nuclear policy

LOS ANGELES, Oct. 25 (Xinhua) -- More than 470 physicists led by seven Nobel laureates have signed a petition to oppose a new US Defense Department proposal that allows the United States to launch nuclear attack against non-nuclear countries.

Two initiators on Tuesday criticized the emerging US policy that will destroy the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty.

The two and other prominent physicists will deliver the petition to members of US Congress, scientific professional societies and the news media.

"The new policy allows the US to use nuclear weapons against states that do not have nuclear weapons and for a host of new reasons, including rapid termination of a conflict on US terms or to ensure success of the US forces," said Jorge Hirsch, physics professor at the University of California, San Diego, who started this petition.

"The US use of nuclear weapons against non-nuclear states will destroy the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty and give strong incentive for other countries to develop and use nuclear weapons, thus making nuclear war more likely, " said professor Kim Griest, another initiator of the petition.

"This new US policy dramatically increases the risk of nuclear proliferation and, ultimately, the risk that regional conflicts will explode into all-out nuclear war, with the potential to destroy our civilization," he noted.

"As physicists we feel we need to bring this to the attention of policy makers and the public, in order to engender discussion, debate, and hopefully repudiation of the new policy."

The two physicists began their petition last month following reports in The New York Times and Washington Post that the US government was in the final process of adopting a new policy that would permit the use of nuclear weapons against a non-nuclear adversary under certain circumstances.

Hirsch and Griest said they felt an obligation to speak out about the nuclear policy change because their profession brought nuclear weapons into the world 60 years ago.

Besides seven Nobel laureates, the petition was also signed by a past president and the president-elect of the American Physical Society, a Fields Medal winner and two Wolf Prize laureates. Hirsch and Griest said they will urge more physicists to sign on the petition.

Source: Xinhua News Agency - CEIS

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