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Bernard Lown, MD

JAMA. 1981;246(20):2331-2333.

	Since this article does not have an abstract, we have provided the first 150 words of the full text PDF and any section headings.

THE WORLD is moving inexorably toward the use of nuclear weapons. The atomic age and space flights demonstrate the awesome power of science and technology. These developments have also brought humankind to a bifurcation—one road of unlimited opportunity for improving the quality of life, the other of unmitigated misery, devastation, and death. The road we follow will determine whether modern society has a future.

The Experience of Hiroshima

In Hiroshima, a primitive uranium bomb with an explosive power of 13 kilotons (equivalent to 13,000 tons of TNT) instantaneously killed more than 75,000 persons. Of a population of 245,000, more than 100,000 persons were injured. Ninety percent of the 76,000 buildings within city limits were destroyed. Only three of Hiroshima's 45 hospitals were left unscathed. Fewer than 30 of the 150 physicians were available to attend the thousands of victims. Of the 1,780 nurses, only 126 were alive and able to . . . [Full Text PDF of this Article]

Author Affiliations
From the Department of Nutrition, Harvard School of Public Health, and the Department of Medicine, Brigham and Women's Hospital, Boston.

Footnotes
Reprint requests to Department of Nutrition, Harvard School of Public Health, 665 Huntington Ave, Boston, MA 02115 (Dr Lown).

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