Nuclear weapons are another post-communist health hazard

doi:10.1136/bmj.331.7510.237-a

BMJ 2005;331:237 (23 July), doi:10.1136/bmj.331.7510.237-a

Letter

Nuclear weapons are another post-communist health hazard

The first 150 words of the full text of this article appear below.

EDITOR—In their editorial McKee and Fister highlight manyof the major health issues in the post-communist countries ofEurope.¹ Another critical threat to health is the nuclear weaponsin various European countries, and particularly Russia. Accordingto a recent estimate, Russia has 7800 operational nuclear warheadsin its arsenal,² of which about 4400 are strategic warheads.This relic of the cold war poses risks of accidental explosionsor of missile launches, since some of these weapons are on highalert status. There is also a risk that actual weapons and fissilematerials associated with them could be stolen and sold to terrorists.Maintaining the system for producing and maintaining nuclearweapons is also a drain on national economies—with fewerfinancial resources available for health and other essentialservices.