NetNews Usenet Archive 1992 #16/NN_1992_16.iso/spool/misc/activism/progress/5464

Text File | 1992-07-29 | 3.8 KB | 75 lines

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Subject: Original Bomb Designers Challenge Bush Policy on Nuke Testing
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Date: Thu, 30 Jul 1992 01:04:11 GMT
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 Press release from Physicians for Social Responsibility

 Original Bomb Designers Challenge Bush Policy on Nuclear Testing
 To: National Desk
 Contact: Robert K. Musil or Emily Green, both of Physicians
          for Social Responsibility, 202-785-3777

   WASHINGTON, July 28 /U.S. Newswire/ -- Six physicists from the
world-renowned Manhattan Project, which led to the first atomic bomb,
joined together in an unprecedented call for the U.S. Senate to enact
a moratorium on nuclear weapons testing.
   The signers include Nobel Laureate and former chairman of the
Atomic Energy Commission under Presidents Kennedy, Johnson and Nixon,
Dr. Glenn Seaborg and Nobel Laureate Dr. Owen Chamberlain.
   "The advantages of an immediate mutual moratorium and of a
comprehensive test ban outweigh, in our judgement, any perceived
benefits of further tests for any reason," states a letter directed
to all U.S. senators and signed by Drs. Seaborg, Chamberlain,
Bernard Feld, Carson Mark, Joseph Rotblat and Herbert York.  The Bush
administration continues to maintain that nuclear testing is
necessary to ensure the safety and reliability of the U.S. nuclear
deterrent.
   The Manhattan Project, which was launched in 1942 under President
Franklin Roosevelt, led to the first test of a nuclear weapon at
Alamogordo, N.M., on July 16, 1945.  Since that time, the United
States has conducted 940 test nuclear weapons explosions.
   The Nuclear Testing Moratorium Act would establish a one-year
moratorium on U.S. tests as long as Russia continues its current
moratorium.  The legislation has accumulated 53 cosponsors in the
Senate and is expected to come to a vote within the week.  It was
approved by a vote of 237 to 167 in the House of Representatives on
June 4.
   The physicists' letter was released by the Manhattan Project II --
a campaign of Physicians for Social Responsibility (PSR) -- which
aims to undo, as completely and quickly as possible, the legacy of
nuclear danger left by the original Manhattan Project.  It calls for
a global moratorium on the testing of nuclear weapons and
international controls on weapons dismantlement as well as much
deeper reductions in strategic weapons and a strengthened
non-proliferation regime, among other measures.  Manhattan Project II
is directed by former Defense and State Department official Dr.
Daniel Ellsberg and has been endorsed by more than 60 national and
international organizations.
   "The judgement of these original bomb designers clearly matches
that of the majority of the American public that U.S. national
security is best served by an immediate moratorium and a global test
ban rather than by further nuclear testing," stated Ellsberg.
   Founded in 1961, PSR is a national organization of more than
25,000 health professionals and supporters in more than 120 chapters
working to prevent nuclear war, protect the environment and reorder
national spending priorities.  It is the U.S. affiliate of
International Physicians for the Prevention of Nuclear War, recipient
of the 1985 Nobel Peace Prize.
   For further information about Manhattan Project II, call Daniel
Ellsberg at 510-526-4310.  To arrange interviews with Manhattan
Project scientists who have signed the statement of support for a
test moratorium, call Emily Green at 202-785-3777.
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