Nuclear Famine: New Report To Warn Of Major Global Food Supply/ Starvation Threats Posed By Even Limited Regional Nuclear Confrontation

Among Consequences:  Major Drop in U.S. and Chinese Agriculture Production Seen in Wake of Nuclear Weapons Exchange;  Resulting Famine Would Threaten Lives of the World's Already Malnourished Billion People.

 April 24, 2012 Daybook/Calendar Item & News Advisory

CHICAGO, April 23, 2012 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- With a new Indian ballistic missile test once again ratcheting up tensions in the South Asia region, a new report to be released Tuesday (April 24, 2012) will show that a limited, regional nuclear war (such as a clash between India and Pakistan) would cause significant climate disruption around the globe, leading to a sharp decline in agricultural production in such sites as the U.S. and China that could trigger a famine jeopardizing the already precarious lives of the nearly one billion malnourished people on earth.

The new report by Dr. Ira Helfand will be released Tuesday (April 24, 2012) by International Physicians for the Prevention of Nuclear War and its U.S. affiliate Physicians for Social Responsibility (PSR) during a live, phone-based news conference at 9:30 a.m. EDT/830 a.m. CDT/2:30 p.m. London BST/6:30 p.m. Lahore PKT/7 p.m. Mumbai IST.  The news event will take place during the World Summit of Nobel Laureates in Chicago May 23-25, 2012.  The report is based on primary research articles to be published in the journal Climatic Change.

News event speakers will be:

• Dr. Ira Helfand, North American vice president, International Physicians for the Prevention of Nuclear War and past president of Physicians for Social Responsibility;
• Ambassador Jayantha Dhanapala, president, Pugwash Conferences on Science and World Affairs, governing board member, The Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists, and former UN Under Secretary General of Disarmament Affairs; and
• Alexandre Liebeskind, personal advisor to the president & secretary of the Assembly and the Council of the Assembly of the International Committee of the Red Cross.

The Helfand report was made possible with the financial support of the Swiss Federal Department of Foreign Affairs.

TO PARTICIPATE: You can join this live, phone-based news conference (with full, two-way Q&A) at 9:30 a.m. EDT/830 a.m. CDT/2:30 p.m. London BST/6:30 p.m. Lahore PKT/7 p.m. Mumbai IST on April 24, 2012 by dialing 1 (800) 860-2442 in the U.S., 080-823-89064 in the United Kingdom or +1-412-858-4600 for callers outside the U.S./United Kingdom. Ask for the "Indian Pakistan nuclear famine" telenews event.

CAN'T PARTICIPATE?:  A streaming audio replay of the news event will be available on the Web on April 24, 2012 at 1 p.m. EDT/noon CDT/6 p.m. London BST/10 p.m. Lahore PKT/10:30 p.m. Mumbai IST at http://www.psr.org. 

ABOUT THE GROUPS

Physicians for Social Responsibility is the largest physician-led organization in the U.S. working to prevent nuclear war and proliferation and to slow, stop and reverse global warming without using expensive, unsafe nuclear power and toxic degradation of the environment. PSR's 50,000 health professionals and concerned citizen members and e-activists, 30 PSR chapters, and 41 student PSR chapters at medical and public health schools, along with national and chapter staff, form a unique nationwide network committed to a safer and healthy world. For more information, go to http://www.psr.org on the Web.

The International Physicians for the Prevention of Nuclear War is a non-partisan federation of national medical organizations in 63 countries, representing tens of thousands of doctors, medical students, other health workers, and concerned citizens who share the common goal of creating a more peaceful and secure world freed from the threat of nuclear annihilation.  See http://www.ippnw.org on the Web.

SOURCE International Physicians for the Prevention of Nuclear War, and Physicians for Social Responsibility, Chicago, IL