N.Z. ban on N-ships praised

Press, 20 September 1985, Page 21

N.Z. ban on N-ships praised

By

CHRIS PETERS

NZPA staff correspondent Sydney A senior American scientist has praised New Zealand’s ban on nuclearpowered and nuclear-armed ships as a step towards world peace. A world renowned ecologist, Professor Paul Ehrlich, warning that the world was on the brink of nuclear war, said the New Zealand ban had put nuclear weapons and their logic right in front of the American public and had earned respect and “thanks” in the scientific community. Professor Ehrlich, who is in Australia to address a conference of Australia’s Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Office, also took a swipe at France, describing it as the world’s most dangerous nuclear Power. He told a press conference that the United States was worried by France because the United States had no control over what the

French did, while the Soviet Union was worried because the French had threatened to wipe out the Russians the moment an Eastern bloc soldier set foot in the West. He said there was enough nuclear hardware in the world for 48 Hiroshimas every second for 48 hours, that a single nuclear-armed submarine had the power to wipe out the Soviet Union or the United States, and it was “nonsensical” for the French to want to develop nuclear weapons of their own. “The problem is that the French don’t trust the United States or the U.S.S.R.” he said. “Some people would describe France as the most dangerous nuclear Power.” While confessing to a lack of detailed knowledge about the conditions at Mururoa, Professor Ehrlich said the United States tested nuclear weapons underground with monotonous regularity, and there had been accidents.

“There have been ventings, but they have been in the middle of the Nevada desert,” he said.

“For the French or anyone to say that any of thentests are safe shows they don’t understand the nature of technology. “Maybe they are relatively safe, but what are the chances of a venting. If there’s a leak from the French test and the wind is blowing the wrong way, if even one Australian or New Zealander gets cancer, will it be considered worth while? I can’t imagine the French can’t find a suitable place in France to let off a bomb, but Mururoa is a long way from the voters. The reason they test in the Pacific is if they tried it at home the French people would riot.”

Professor Ehrlich said that the path to world peace lay with more pressure from such nations as Australia, New Zealand and non-aligned nations.

“A lot of people in the United States are very grateful to New Zealand for its stand on nuclear ships,” he said. “It has raised the question in the United States and put it right in front of the people. I wish more countries could do what New Zealand has done — the threat of nuclear war could

be removed tomorrow if we could do that. “New Zealand should be proud of itself. Scientists in the United States have been greatly encouraged.” He said Britain could achieve much the same effect if it decided not to buy more nuclear submarines and said instead it had enough.