PSR Applauds President Obama’s Commitment to Seek a World Without Nuclear Weapons

(Washington, DC)  During their recent meeting in London, President Barack Obama engaged Russian President Dmitri Medvedev in groundbreaking efforts to achieve “a nuclear [weapons] free world.”  PSR applauds the presidents of both countries for their commitment to this essential goal.  In his speech in Prague on Sunday, April 5, President Obama went on to lay out a bold agenda to turn that goal into reality.

PSR has worked to eliminate the threat of nuclear weapons since its founding in 1961.  “This meeting between Obama and Medvedev marks a crucial change in U.S.-Russian relations and an opportunity to rid the world of one of the gravest threats to human life.  When we think about national security, we must remember that nuclear weapons are a profound liability and not an asset.  Most urgently, we urge the two nations to take the first step to making the world a safer place by removing U.S. and Russian arsenals from hair trigger alert,” stated Dr. Peter Wilk, executive director of Physicians for Social Responsibility.

PSR and International Physicians for the Prevention of Nuclear War recently sent a joint letter to Obama and Medvedev signed by more than 300 leading physicians calling on the presidents to begin negotiations to eliminate all nuclear weapons (letter can be found here).

“President Obama’s stated intention to negotiate significant reductions in nuclear weapons, to secure U.S. Senate ratification to ban nuclear weapons testing, and to gain greater control over fissile material are very encouraging steps forward.   As positive as these developments are, it is vitally important that  President Obama uses every opportunity to move the Russians and other nuclear states down  the path to zero, which really is the only safe number of nuclear weapons,” added Wilk.