GIGO

Testing Nuclear Weapons

As I write this editorial, it is VJ Day and the arguments have been raging forth once again about the development and application of nuclear weapons, exacerbated of course by the French and planned resumption of testing in the Pacific.

I feel some sympathy for Dr Andrew McEwan of the National Radiation Laboratory. It's been his somewhat unenviable task to point out that arguing against the French testing on scientific grounds is untenable. Looked at rationally, it appears that a major environmental catastrophe is not likely to occur from the underground tests. Attempting to argue that the Pacific and its inhabitants are physically endangered by such tests is not likely to win a case in the World Court in the face of the scientific evidence currently available.

However, rationality is not the only response. One recent television advert which juxtaposes images of children, an atmospheric bomb blast and a dead fish washing up on the shore is designed to appeal to our hearts rather than our heads. While I can am sympathetic to the message, the way in which it is presented irritates me because of the obvious emotional manipulation and misinformation involved.

Yet I have to confess that my own reactions are not that rational when it comes to nuclear weapons. Since the day I heard news of the Rainbow Warrior bombing I have tried not to buy French products -- and I was delighted when New Scientist recently suggested to their readers that they try Australian and New Zealand vintages instead of French wines and champagne.

Shortly after the bombing, I spoke at a UNESCO forum in Tokyo on environment and peace issues in the Pacific, and was startled to encounter a very muted response. They didn't want to hear how an individual moral stance could be transformed into internationally significant political action. (The on-going relationship with the US military undoubtedly had something to do with this...)

Rather than trying to use scientific justifications -- which may be dangerously equivocal -- we should acknowledge that our anger and contempt concerning the resumed testing arises from a deep-seated moral repugnance at what such testing represents. And there's nothing wrong with that.

J'accuse!

Vicki Hyde is the editor of New Zealand Science Monthly.