To Senator Thom Tillis, Senator Ted Budd:
Whereas: Whether armed and ready in silos or on board submarines or bombers, nuclear weapons are always a threat to world peace;
Whereas: The Russian — Ukraine war, coupled with U.S. military support for Ukraine, has increased the risk of the use of nuclear weapons;
Whereas: U.S. involvement in any war may ultimately involve U.S. troops who could see combat and put their lives at risk, adding to the tens of thousands of veterans already suffering the horrible consequences of past wars;
Therefore: We the undersigned implore our U.S. Senators to work to reduce our nuclear stockpiles, and for the United States to renew its support for the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty and to fully ratify The Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons, an international effort to eliminate weapons of mass destruction.
Background
The movie “Oppenheimer” reminds us that our country was the first and is still the only nation to drop atomic bombs on civilians. The devastation caused by our 1945 atomic attacks on Japan still renders parts of Hiroshima and Nagasaki as uninhabitable and unusable. Various U.S. nuclear test sites, some on American Tribal lands, also remain uninhabitable due to radiation exposure. Other “dead zones,” where U.S. nuclear bombs were detonated, exist on various islands in the Pacific Ocean.
Nuclear testing led to the deaths of untold numbers of people — called “Down-winders” — who were exposed to deadly doses of radiation from the nuclear tests. Even members of the U.S. military were used as guinea pigs and were exposed to nuclear radiation in so-called “safe” ways, but many have died of cancers caused by radiation exposure, and others have had their health compromised.
The war between Russian and Ukraine has raised the threat of the use of nuclear weapons. The war is raging near an active Ukrainian nuclear power plant. The use of nuclear weapons can cause a “nuclear winter” that can last a decade, causing long term negative effects on human health and the environment.
U.S. and Russian Intercontinental Ballistic Missiles (ICBM) take only 30 minutes from launching to explosion between the United States and Russia. Nuclear weapons are on hair-trigger alert 24/7. All this while the U.S. military remains the greatest contributor to global warming (link?).
Just nine nations possess nuclear weapons, and many more nations could develop nuclear weapons. That’s why it’s essential for the United States to fully ratify The Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons, an international effort calling for the elimination of nuclear weapons that is supported by the majority of the world’s nation.