Japan Press Weekly
[Advanced search]
 
 
HOME
Past issues
Special issues
Books
Fact Box
Feature Articles
Mail to editor
Link
Mail magazine
 
   
 
HOME  > Past issues  > 2018 October 31 - November 6  > Physicians against nuclear war meet together for 1st time in Nagasaki
> List of Past issues
Bookmark and Share
2018 October 31 - November 6 [PEACE]

Physicians against nuclear war meet together for 1st time in Nagasaki

November 5, 2018
The Physicians against Nuclear War on November 3 and 4 held its 29th meeting, for the first time in the atomic bombed city of Nagasaki, with 216 doctors and citizens participating.

On the first day of the meeting, Nagasaki A-bomb survivors and doctors took the floor. Tanaka Shigemitsu related that he was six when the bomb was dropped and that his grandchild died at three days old. He expressed concern about the possible effects of radiation continuing over several generations. Tanaka said vigorously, "I hope the Japanese government will take a lead in global efforts to eliminate nuclear weapons."

Honda Koya, who heads the Nagasaki Doctor & Dentist Association, explained that he had closely looked into the final report of a residual radiation survey conducted by the U.S. after the war and that he, based on the findings, had published a distribution map of residual radiation covering the city of Nagasaki. He said, "I found that there was a clear inconsistency in the central government-set bombed areas which were within a zone of about twelve kilometers north and south and about seven kilometers east and west."

On the second day, doctor Tilman Ruff, founding co-chair of the International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons (ICAN); Tomonaga Masao, honorary director of the Japanese Red Cross Nagasaki Atomic Bomb Hospital; and Nakamura Keiko, associate professor at Nagasaki University Research Center for Nuclear Weapons Abolition, gave talks.

Ruff pointed to the importance of the UN nuclear weapons ban treaty as it is having a major impact on nuclear powers even before it goes into effect, calling for an increase in the medical professionals' movement for the early entry into force of this pact. Tomonaga by explaining in detail the aftereffects of radiation said, "The bombs are killing the survivors even now, after 73 years." Nakamura called for the need to advance negotiations to realize the creation of a nuclear weapons-free zone in Northeast Asia.

> List of Past issues
 
  Copyright (c) Japan Press Service Co., Ltd. All right reserved