Soviet, U.S. doctors discuss nuclear war

Press, 5 October 1984, Page 15

Soviet, U.S. doctors discuss nuclear war

A round-table discussion between Soviet and American physicians is the main feature of “Nuclear War — the Incurable Disease,” screening on One at 10 o’clock tonight. The discussion programme was made in the Soviet Union and broadcast uncensored and essentially unedited to 200 million Soviet citizens in June, 1982. When it was shown on Soviet national television, the three Soviet and three American doctors discussed the medical consequences of nuclear war.

Two-thirds of this programme, about 40 minutes, features in “Nuclear War — the Incurable Disease,” an American television production.

The American physicians are: Dr Bernard Lown, who, in 1982, was at Harvard university’s School of Public Health; Dr John O. Pastore, who was associate professor of medicine at Tufts University; and Dr James E. Muller, who was associate professor of medicine at

Harvard. Soviet panelists are: Dr Yevgeny I. Chazov, who was Deputy Minister of Public Health; Mikhail I. Kuzin, who was director of the Surgery Institute in Moscow; and Dr Leonid A. Llyin, who was director of the Biophysics Institute. Russian-language portions of the programme have been dubbed in English. Igor Polesitsky, an actor, and Ghenady Mierson, a pianist, both of whom were born in Russia, speak the English translation. In “Nuclear War — the Incurable Disease," implications of the Moscow telecast are discussed by reporter, Hodding Carter; Dr Muller; Stuart Loory, managing editor of Cable News Network; ans Ann Garrels, former Moscow correspondent for A.B.C.

The Soviet programme was initiated by the 30,000member International Physicians for the Prevention of Nuclear War, which made the tape available to the producers of “Nuclear; War — the Incurable Disease.”