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A terror attack on New York using a Hiroshima-sized nuclear bomb would kill more than a quarter of a million people and leave hundreds of thousands sick, according to a computer estimate published in Saturday's British Medical Journal (BMJ). The calculation, made by three physicians who are members of doctors' groups campaigning against nuclear weapons, used computer models created by the US Federal Emergency Management Agency and the Defense Threat Reduction Agency. The scenario is based on a bomb capable of yielding an equivalent TNT blast of 12.5 kilotonnes, smuggled into the port of New York aboard a shipping container and detonated at ground level. "The blast and thermal effects of such an explosion would kill 52,000 people immediately, and direct radiation would cause 44,000 cases of radiation sickness, of which 10,000 would be fatal," the authors say. "Radiation from fallout would kill another 200,000 people and cause several hundred thousand additional cases of radiation sickness." The authorities' ability to aid survivors "would be very limited," they warn. "About 1,000 hospital beds would be destroyed by the blast and 8,700 more would be in areas with radiation exposures high enough to cause radiation sickness. The remaining local medical facilities would quickly be overwhelmed, and even with advance preparation outside help would be delayed." The authors are Ira Helfland, head of emergency medicine at Cooley Dickinson Hospital, Northampton, Massachusetts; Lachlan Forrow, a professor at the Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, Harvard Medical School, Boston; and Jaya Tiwari, research director for Physicians for Social Responsibility, headquartered in Washington. The three, who are members of International Physicians for the Prevention of Nuclear War and Physicians for Social Responsibility, argue that the only effective to prevent nuclear terrorism is to abolish nuclear weapons. The BMJ is the weekly organ of the British Medical Association (BMA). All rights reserved. © 2002 Agence France-Presse. Sections of the information displayed on this page (dispatches, photographs, logos) are protected by intellectual property rights owned by Agence France-Presse. As a consequence, you may not copy, reproduce, modify, transmit, publish, display or in any way commercially exploit any of the content of this section without the prior written consent of Agence France-Presse. Related Links SpaceDaily Search SpaceDaily Subscribe To SpaceDaily Express 
Lawmaker Warns Of Lax Security At US Nuclear Labs
Washington (AFP) Jan 23, 2002A senior member of the House Energy and Commerce committee on Wednesday warned of lax security conditions at at least three nuclear weapons facilities in the United States. US To Revamp Aid To Russia To Fight Nuclear Proliferation 
Crawford (AFP) Dec 27, 2001US President George W. Bush, who has warned that chief terror suspect Osama bin Laden seeks nuclear arms, wants to enhance US aid aimed at keeping Russian weapons and know-how from unfriendly hands, the White House said Thursday. |
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