H-Bomb Tests

Press, Volume XCV, Issue 28268, 4 May 1957, Page 3

H-Bomb Tests

Sir,—The whole problem of banning nuclear tests, whether at Christmas Island, or Bikini, or in Siberia, should be discussed from opposing points of view over the national radio in carefully-planned educative dialogues aiming at giving listeners the best arguments for and against the problems discussed. Few will controvert the opinion that the fate of all life on earth, to say nothing of human civilisation, hangs in the balance. Indeed, from now on this danger will continue to beset mankind till the characters of human beings change radically for the better. What sort of monsters are wa who can calmly envisage the destruction of our fellows by tens of millions and be quite prepared to go on living on their corpses? “These mountains of corpses, these rivers of blood.” cried Sir lan Hamilton at the Glasgow cenotaph, “what atom of good have they effected for anyone?” The answer is, “None.”—Yours, etc., N. M. BELL. May 3, 1957.

Sir, —Man has in his power the most formidable weapon ever produced, and is using it for the ultimate destruction of the earth. Atomic war would be too disastrous in its immense immediate harm, let alone the after-effects of radioactive fall-out. In the event of an atomic war, when many more bombs would be exploded, the quantity of radioactive radiation would be vastly greater than it is now. At Hiroshima many, many thousands perished. This is something too terrible to think about.—Yours, etc., A.M. May 3, 1957.