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August 2, 1985, Vol 254, No. 5 >
ARTICLE | August 2, 1985

The Medical Profession and Nuclear War: Title and subTitle BreakA Social History FREE

Barbara Day, MA; Howard Waitzkin, MD, PhD
[+] Author Affiliations

Reprint requests to North Orange County Community Clinic, 300 West Romneya Dr, Anaheim, CA 92801 (Dr Waitzkin).


JAMA. 1985;254(5):644-651. doi:10.1001/jama.1985.03360050082030
Text Size: A A A
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Article
References

Since World War II, individual physicians and medical organizations in the United States have cooperated with the federal government in preparing for nuclear war. While most physicians have maintained a neutral stance, a minority have resisted federal policies. Health professionals participated actively at the wartime laboratories that developed the atomic bomb and in the medical research that followed Hiroshima and Nagasaki. Professional organizations helped with civil defense planning for nuclear conflict during the Cold War of the late 1950s and early 1960s. Medical resistance to nuclear war began in the same period, gained wide attention with the growth of Physicians for Social Responsibility in the early 1960s, declined during the Vietnam War, and vastly increased in the early 1980s. Activism by health professionals usually has responded to government policies that have increased the perceived risk of nuclear conflict. The recent return of civil defense planning has stimulated opposition in medical circles. Ambiguities of medical professionalism limit the scope of activism in the nuclear arena. These ambiguities concern the interplay of organized medicine and government, tensions between science and politics, and the difficulties of day-to-day work in medicine while the arms race continues.

(JAMA 1985;254:644-651)

REFERENCES

1 +
Hewlett RG, Anderson O: The New World (1939-1946): I. The History of the U.S. Atomic Energy Commission . University Park, Pa, Pennsylvania State University Press, 1962;.
2 +
Oughterson AW, Barnett HL, LeRoy GV, et al: Medical Effects of Atomic Bombs: The Report of the Joint Commission for the Investigation of the Medical Effects of the Atomic Bomb in Japan . Oak Ridge, Tenn, US Atomic Energy Commission (Technical Information Service), 1951;.
3 +
Warren S, Oughterson AW: The Medical Effects of the Atomic Bomb in Japan . New York, McGraw-Hill Book Co, 1956;.
4 +
Liebow AA:  Encounter with disaster—a medical diary of Hiroshima . Yale J Biol Med 1965;;38:61-239.
5 +
Beebe GW:  Reflections on the work of the Atomic Bomb Casualty Commission in Japan . Epidemiol Rev 1979;;1:184-210.
6 +
Committee for the Compilation of Materials on Damage Caused by the Atomic Bombs in Hiroshima and Nagasaki: Hiroshima and Nagasaki: The Physical, Medical, and Social Effects of the Bombing . New York, Basic Books Inc Publishers, 1981;.
7 +
Tottler JF:  The Division of Biology and Medicine of the Atomic Energy Commission . Am J Vet Res 1965;;26:583-587.
8 +
Warren S:  Medical aspects of the atomic bombings . RI Med J 1946;;29:907-912.
9 +
Warren S:  Hiroshima and Nagasaki 30 years later . Proc Am Philos Soc 1977;;121:97-99.
10 +
Jacobson LO, Stone RS, Allen JG:  Physicians in an atomic war . JAMA 1949;;139:138-140.
11 +
 Physical and biological effects of atomic explosions . Lancet 1950;;2:582-588.
12 +
Lyon GM:  Effects of atom bomb radiation on the human body . W Va Med J 1947;;43:391-395.
13 +
Kiefer NC, Flinn RH:  Civil defense planning . Milit Surg 1951;;108:372-374.
14 +
Burney LE:  The impact of civil defense upon the medical profession . J Indiana State Med Assoc 1951;;44:454.
15 +
Wilson WL:  Medical leadership in atomic defense . Med Ann DC 1951;;20:270-271.
16 +
Hahn EV:  National survival under atomic attack . J Indiana State Med Assoc 1951;;44:455-456.
17 +
Sears TP: The Physician in Atomic Defense: Atomic Principles, Biologic Reaction, and Organization for Medical Defense . Chicago, Year Book Medical Publishers, 1953;.
18 +
Chesbro W:  Organized medicine and civil disaster . JAMA 1956;;162:985-988.
19 +
Rock Carling E:  Medical aspects of atomic warfare . Practitioner 1950;;165:571-574.
20 +
Martin PA:  A psychiatric viewpoint on civil defense . J Mich State Med Soc 1952;;51:304-309.
21 +
Riehlman RW:  The congressional program for civil defense . JAMA 1958;;167:1749-1753.
22 +
Patterson JS:  The role of medical education in civil defense mobilization . JAMA 1959;; 170:322-325.
23 +
Kornfeld H:  Nuclear weapons and civil defense: The influence of the medical profession from 1955 to 1983 . West J Med 1983;;138:207-212.
24 +
Berry LE:  The future role of the federal Civil Defense Administration . JAMA 1958;; 166:782-785.
25 +
Johnson PC:  ABC's of thermo-nuclear war . Med Records Ann 1962;;55:230-231.
26 +
Sullivan CM:  Civil defense in a nuclear age: Preparedness may mean survival . Am J Nurs 1965;;65:121-123.
27 +
Visher PS:  National shelter program and its medical effects . NY State J Med 1963;;63:3294-3297.
28 +
Garb SS:  Thermo-nuclear survival: Types of shelters useful for families . Mo Med 1962;; 59:874-880.
29 +
Sanford JP:  Medical self-help training program . Tex State J Med 1964;;60:27-30.
30 +
Eicherly E:  Civil defense in a nuclear age: Living and nursing in a fall-out shelter . Am J Nurs 1965;;65:123-125.
31 +
 AHA statement on civil defense shelter program . Hospitals 1963;;37:198-212.
32 +
 The Pugwash statement . Science 1957;; 126:199-200.
33 +
Gilpin R: American Scientists and Nuclear Weapons Policy . Princeton, NJ, Princeton University Press, 1962;, p 154.
34 +
Frank JD:  The great antagonism . Atlantic , (November) 1958;, pp 58-62.
35 +
Frank JD: Sanity and Survival in the Nuclear Age: Psychological Aspects of War and Peace . New York, Random House, 1982;.
36 +
Urey HC: Papers, Box 33, "Committee for a Sane Nuclear Policy" (1959-1964) . San Diego, University of California.
37 +
Lifton RJ:  Psychological effects of the atomic bomb in Hiroshima—the theme of death . Daedalus 1963;;92:462-497.
38 +
Lifton RJ, Falk R: Indefensible Weapons: The Political and Psychological Case Against Nuclearism . New York, Basic Books Inc Publishers, 1982;.
39 +
Committee on Social Issues, Group for the Advancement of Psychiatry:  Psychiatric aspects of the prevention of nuclear war . Int J Psychiatry 1965;;1:341-408.
40 +
Sullivan WC: Nuclear Democracy: A History of the Greater St. Louis Citizens' Committee for Nuclear Information, 1957-1962 . St Louis, Washington University Press, 1982;.
41 +
Boyer P:  Physicians confront the apocalypse: The American medical profession and the threat of nuclear war . JAMA 1985;;254:633-643.
42 +
Biological and Environmental Effects of Nuclear War . US Congress, Joint Committee on Atomic Energy, 1959;.
43 +
Sidel VW, Geiger J, Lown B:  The physician's role in the post-attack period . N Engl J Med 1962;;266:1137-1145.
44 +
Liederman PH, Mendelson J:  Some psychiatric considerations in planning for defense shelters . N Engl J Med 1962;;266:1149-1155.
45 +
 Regarding thermonuclear warfare . N Engl J Med 1962;;267:161-162.
46 +
Aranow S, Erwin FR, Sidel VW (eds): The Fallen Sky: Medical Consequences of Thermonuclear War . New York, Hill & Wang, 1963;.
47 +
Boyer P:  From activism to apathy: The American people and nuclear weapons, 1963-1980 . J Am Hist 1984;;70:822-844.
48 +
 The danger of nuclear war . Lancet 1984;; 1:771.
49 +
 Physicians and the anti-nuclear war path . Lancet 1983;;1:565-566.
50 +
Relman AS:  Physicians, nuclear war, and politics . N Engl J Med 1982;;307:744-745.
51 +
Orkin A:  Soviet physicians against nuclear war . Can Med Assoc J 1984;;130:464-468.
52 +
Wright T, Rodriguez F, Waitzkin H:  Corporate interests, philanthropies, and the peace movement . Monthly Rev 1985;;36( (9) ):19-31.
53 +
Beary JF, Biscard JC, Armstrong PC:  The Civilian-Military Contingency Hospital System . N Engl J Med 1982;;306:738-740.
54 +
PSR Executive Committee:  Medical care in modern warfare: A look at the Pentagon plan for the civilian sector . N Engl J Med 1982;;306:741-743.
55 +
Waselewski V:  Medical planning for nuclear war . Monthly Rev 1982;;33( (8) ):19-26.
56 +
Bruwer A:  Nuclear war, patriotism, and medical ethics . Pharos 1982;;45( (3) ):2-8.
57 +
Cassel CK, Jameton A:  A medical response to thermonuclear war . Ann Intern Med 1982;; 97:426-432.
58 +
 Doctors defend nuke war readiness . Med World News 1983;;24( (3) ):66.
59 +
Freidson E: Profession of Medicine . New York, Dodd Mead & Co Inc, 1970;, pp 69-70.
60 +
Southgate MT:  The shadow of Hiroshima: Two diaries . JAMA 1984;;252:667-668.
61 +
Hiatt HH:  The final epidemic: Prescriptions for prevention . JAMA 1984;;252:635-638.
62 +
Abrams HL:  Medical resources after nuclear war: Availability v need . JAMA 1984;; 252:653-658.
63 +
Ehrlich PR, Harte J, Harwell MA, et al:  Long-term biological consequences of nuclear war . Science 1983;;222:1293-1300.
64 +
Adams R, Cullen S (eds): The Final Epidemic: Physicians and Scientists on Nuclear War . Chicago, Educational Foundation for Nuclear Science, 1981;.
65 +
British Medical Association's Board of Science and Education: The Medical Effects of Nuclear War . New York, John Wiley & Sons Inc, 1983;.
66 +
Cassel C, McCally M, Abraham H: Nuclear Weapons and Nuclear War: A Sourcebook for Health Professionals . New York, Praeger Publishers, 1984;.
67 +
International Committee of Experts in Medical Sciences and Public Health to Implement Resolution WHA 34.38: Effects of Nuclear War on Health and Health Services . Geneva, World Health Organization, 1984;.
68 +
Abrams H:  Medical problems of survivors of nuclear war: Infection and the spread of communicable disease . N Engl J Med 1981;; 305:1226-1232.
69 +
Scrimshaw NS:  Food, nutrition, and nuclear war . N Engl J Med 1984;;311:272-276.
70 +
Lurie N, Ward NB, Shapiro MF, et al:  Termination of Medi-Cal: Does it affect health? N Engl J Med 1984;;311:480-484.
71 +
Waitzkin H:  Two-class medicine returns to the United States: Impact of Medi-Cal reform . Lancet 1984;;2:1144-1146.
72 +
Szymanski A:  Health in the U.S.S.R. Sci Soc 1981;;45:453-474.
73 +
Navarro V:  The social costs of national security or insecurity . Am J Public Health 1980;;70:961-963.
74 +
Waitzkin H: The Second Sickness: Contradictions of Capitalist Health Care . New York, Macmillan Publishing Co Inc, 1983;, pp 237-238.
75 +
Gellhorn A, Cassel CK, Jefferys M, et al:  National security and the health of people: Human needs and the allocation of scarce resources . Soc Sci Med 1984;;19:307-332.
76 +
Hiatt HH:  Preventing the last epidemic: I . JAMA 1980;;244:2314-2315.
77 +
Hiatt HH:  Preventing the last epidemic: II . JAMA 1981;;246:2053-2056.
78 +
Lown B, Chivian E, Muller J, et al:  The nuclear arms race and the physician . N Engl J Med 1981;;304:26-29.
79 +
 The world's number one health problem . Proc Am Public Health Assoc 1984;;112:101,108.

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Country-Specific Mortality and Growth Failure in Infancy and Yound Children and Association With Material Stature

Use interactive graphics and maps to view and sort country-specific infant and early dhildhood mortality and growth failure data and their association with maternal

1 +
Hewlett RG, Anderson O: The New World (1939-1946): I. The History of the U.S. Atomic Energy Commission . University Park, Pa, Pennsylvania State University Press, 1962;.
2 +
Oughterson AW, Barnett HL, LeRoy GV, et al: Medical Effects of Atomic Bombs: The Report of the Joint Commission for the Investigation of the Medical Effects of the Atomic Bomb in Japan . Oak Ridge, Tenn, US Atomic Energy Commission (Technical Information Service), 1951;.
3 +
Warren S, Oughterson AW: The Medical Effects of the Atomic Bomb in Japan . New York, McGraw-Hill Book Co, 1956;.
4 +
Liebow AA:  Encounter with disaster—a medical diary of Hiroshima . Yale J Biol Med 1965;;38:61-239.
5 +
Beebe GW:  Reflections on the work of the Atomic Bomb Casualty Commission in Japan . Epidemiol Rev 1979;;1:184-210.
6 +
Committee for the Compilation of Materials on Damage Caused by the Atomic Bombs in Hiroshima and Nagasaki: Hiroshima and Nagasaki: The Physical, Medical, and Social Effects of the Bombing . New York, Basic Books Inc Publishers, 1981;.
7 +
Tottler JF:  The Division of Biology and Medicine of the Atomic Energy Commission . Am J Vet Res 1965;;26:583-587.
8 +
Warren S:  Medical aspects of the atomic bombings . RI Med J 1946;;29:907-912.
9 +
Warren S:  Hiroshima and Nagasaki 30 years later . Proc Am Philos Soc 1977;;121:97-99.
10 +
Jacobson LO, Stone RS, Allen JG:  Physicians in an atomic war . JAMA 1949;;139:138-140.
11 +
 Physical and biological effects of atomic explosions . Lancet 1950;;2:582-588.
12 +
Lyon GM:  Effects of atom bomb radiation on the human body . W Va Med J 1947;;43:391-395.
13 +
Kiefer NC, Flinn RH:  Civil defense planning . Milit Surg 1951;;108:372-374.
14 +
Burney LE:  The impact of civil defense upon the medical profession . J Indiana State Med Assoc 1951;;44:454.
15 +
Wilson WL:  Medical leadership in atomic defense . Med Ann DC 1951;;20:270-271.
16 +
Hahn EV:  National survival under atomic attack . J Indiana State Med Assoc 1951;;44:455-456.
17 +
Sears TP: The Physician in Atomic Defense: Atomic Principles, Biologic Reaction, and Organization for Medical Defense . Chicago, Year Book Medical Publishers, 1953;.
18 +
Chesbro W:  Organized medicine and civil disaster . JAMA 1956;;162:985-988.
19 +
Rock Carling E:  Medical aspects of atomic warfare . Practitioner 1950;;165:571-574.
20 +
Martin PA:  A psychiatric viewpoint on civil defense . J Mich State Med Soc 1952;;51:304-309.
21 +
Riehlman RW:  The congressional program for civil defense . JAMA 1958;;167:1749-1753.
22 +
Patterson JS:  The role of medical education in civil defense mobilization . JAMA 1959;; 170:322-325.
23 +
Kornfeld H:  Nuclear weapons and civil defense: The influence of the medical profession from 1955 to 1983 . West J Med 1983;;138:207-212.
24 +
Berry LE:  The future role of the federal Civil Defense Administration . JAMA 1958;; 166:782-785.
25 +
Johnson PC:  ABC's of thermo-nuclear war . Med Records Ann 1962;;55:230-231.
26 +
Sullivan CM:  Civil defense in a nuclear age: Preparedness may mean survival . Am J Nurs 1965;;65:121-123.
27 +
Visher PS:  National shelter program and its medical effects . NY State J Med 1963;;63:3294-3297.
28 +
Garb SS:  Thermo-nuclear survival: Types of shelters useful for families . Mo Med 1962;; 59:874-880.
29 +
Sanford JP:  Medical self-help training program . Tex State J Med 1964;;60:27-30.
30 +
Eicherly E:  Civil defense in a nuclear age: Living and nursing in a fall-out shelter . Am J Nurs 1965;;65:123-125.
31 +
 AHA statement on civil defense shelter program . Hospitals 1963;;37:198-212.
32 +
 The Pugwash statement . Science 1957;; 126:199-200.
33 +
Gilpin R: American Scientists and Nuclear Weapons Policy . Princeton, NJ, Princeton University Press, 1962;, p 154.
34 +
Frank JD:  The great antagonism . Atlantic , (November) 1958;, pp 58-62.
35 +
Frank JD: Sanity and Survival in the Nuclear Age: Psychological Aspects of War and Peace . New York, Random House, 1982;.
36 +
Urey HC: Papers, Box 33, "Committee for a Sane Nuclear Policy" (1959-1964) . San Diego, University of California.
37 +
Lifton RJ:  Psychological effects of the atomic bomb in Hiroshima—the theme of death . Daedalus 1963;;92:462-497.
38 +
Lifton RJ, Falk R: Indefensible Weapons: The Political and Psychological Case Against Nuclearism . New York, Basic Books Inc Publishers, 1982;.
39 +
Committee on Social Issues, Group for the Advancement of Psychiatry:  Psychiatric aspects of the prevention of nuclear war . Int J Psychiatry 1965;;1:341-408.
40 +
Sullivan WC: Nuclear Democracy: A History of the Greater St. Louis Citizens' Committee for Nuclear Information, 1957-1962 . St Louis, Washington University Press, 1982;.
41 +
Boyer P:  Physicians confront the apocalypse: The American medical profession and the threat of nuclear war . JAMA 1985;;254:633-643.
42 +
Biological and Environmental Effects of Nuclear War . US Congress, Joint Committee on Atomic Energy, 1959;.
43 +
Sidel VW, Geiger J, Lown B:  The physician's role in the post-attack period . N Engl J Med 1962;;266:1137-1145.
44 +
Liederman PH, Mendelson J:  Some psychiatric considerations in planning for defense shelters . N Engl J Med 1962;;266:1149-1155.
45 +
 Regarding thermonuclear warfare . N Engl J Med 1962;;267:161-162.
46 +
Aranow S, Erwin FR, Sidel VW (eds): The Fallen Sky: Medical Consequences of Thermonuclear War . New York, Hill & Wang, 1963;.
47 +
Boyer P:  From activism to apathy: The American people and nuclear weapons, 1963-1980 . J Am Hist 1984;;70:822-844.
48 +
 The danger of nuclear war . Lancet 1984;; 1:771.
49 +
 Physicians and the anti-nuclear war path . Lancet 1983;;1:565-566.
50 +
Relman AS:  Physicians, nuclear war, and politics . N Engl J Med 1982;;307:744-745.
51 +
Orkin A:  Soviet physicians against nuclear war . Can Med Assoc J 1984;;130:464-468.
52 +
Wright T, Rodriguez F, Waitzkin H:  Corporate interests, philanthropies, and the peace movement . Monthly Rev 1985;;36( (9) ):19-31.
53 +
Beary JF, Biscard JC, Armstrong PC:  The Civilian-Military Contingency Hospital System . N Engl J Med 1982;;306:738-740.
54 +
PSR Executive Committee:  Medical care in modern warfare: A look at the Pentagon plan for the civilian sector . N Engl J Med 1982;;306:741-743.
55 +
Waselewski V:  Medical planning for nuclear war . Monthly Rev 1982;;33( (8) ):19-26.
56 +
Bruwer A:  Nuclear war, patriotism, and medical ethics . Pharos 1982;;45( (3) ):2-8.
57 +
Cassel CK, Jameton A:  A medical response to thermonuclear war . Ann Intern Med 1982;; 97:426-432.
58 +
 Doctors defend nuke war readiness . Med World News 1983;;24( (3) ):66.
59 +
Freidson E: Profession of Medicine . New York, Dodd Mead & Co Inc, 1970;, pp 69-70.
60 +
Southgate MT:  The shadow of Hiroshima: Two diaries . JAMA 1984;;252:667-668.
61 +
Hiatt HH:  The final epidemic: Prescriptions for prevention . JAMA 1984;;252:635-638.
62 +
Abrams HL:  Medical resources after nuclear war: Availability v need . JAMA 1984;; 252:653-658.
63 +
Ehrlich PR, Harte J, Harwell MA, et al:  Long-term biological consequences of nuclear war . Science 1983;;222:1293-1300.
64 +
Adams R, Cullen S (eds): The Final Epidemic: Physicians and Scientists on Nuclear War . Chicago, Educational Foundation for Nuclear Science, 1981;.
65 +
British Medical Association's Board of Science and Education: The Medical Effects of Nuclear War . New York, John Wiley & Sons Inc, 1983;.
66 +
Cassel C, McCally M, Abraham H: Nuclear Weapons and Nuclear War: A Sourcebook for Health Professionals . New York, Praeger Publishers, 1984;.
67 +
International Committee of Experts in Medical Sciences and Public Health to Implement Resolution WHA 34.38: Effects of Nuclear War on Health and Health Services . Geneva, World Health Organization, 1984;.
68 +
Abrams H:  Medical problems of survivors of nuclear war: Infection and the spread of communicable disease . N Engl J Med 1981;; 305:1226-1232.
69 +
Scrimshaw NS:  Food, nutrition, and nuclear war . N Engl J Med 1984;;311:272-276.
70 +
Lurie N, Ward NB, Shapiro MF, et al:  Termination of Medi-Cal: Does it affect health? N Engl J Med 1984;;311:480-484.
71 +
Waitzkin H:  Two-class medicine returns to the United States: Impact of Medi-Cal reform . Lancet 1984;;2:1144-1146.
72 +
Szymanski A:  Health in the U.S.S.R. Sci Soc 1981;;45:453-474.
73 +
Navarro V:  The social costs of national security or insecurity . Am J Public Health 1980;;70:961-963.
74 +
Waitzkin H: The Second Sickness: Contradictions of Capitalist Health Care . New York, Macmillan Publishing Co Inc, 1983;, pp 237-238.
75 +
Gellhorn A, Cassel CK, Jefferys M, et al:  National security and the health of people: Human needs and the allocation of scarce resources . Soc Sci Med 1984;;19:307-332.
76 +
Hiatt HH:  Preventing the last epidemic: I . JAMA 1980;;244:2314-2315.
77 +
Hiatt HH:  Preventing the last epidemic: II . JAMA 1981;;246:2053-2056.
78 +
Lown B, Chivian E, Muller J, et al:  The nuclear arms race and the physician . N Engl J Med 1981;;304:26-29.
79 +
 The world's number one health problem . Proc Am Public Health Assoc 1984;;112:101,108.

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