SoNW-Oct2015

Handbook of WMA Policies
World Medical Association ⏐ S-1998-01-2015

WMA STATEMENT
ON
NUCLEAR WEAPONS
Adopted by the 50th
World Medical Assembly, Ottawa, Canada, October 1998
and amended by the 59th
WMA General Assembly, Seoul, Korea, October 2008
and by the 66th
WMA General Assembly, Moscow, Russia, October 2015
The WMA Declarations of Geneva, of Helsinki and of Tokyo make clear the duties and
responsibilities of the medical profession to preserve and safeguard the health of the pati-
ent and to consecrate itself to the service of humanity. The WMA considers that it has a
duty to work for the elimination of nuclear weapons.
Therefore the WMA:
1. Condemns the development, testing, production, stockpiling, transfer, deployment,
threat and use of nuclear weapons;
2. Requests all governments to refrain from the development, testing, production,
stockpiling, transfer, deployment, threat and use of nuclear weapons and to work in
good faith towards the elimination of nuclear weapons;
3. Advises all governments that even a limited nuclear war would bring about imm-ense
human suffering and substantial death toll together with catastrophic effects on the
earth’s ecosystem, which could subsequently decrease the worlds food sup-ply and
would put a significant portion of the world’s population at risk of famine; and
4. Requests that all National Medical Associations join the WMA in supporting this
Declaration, use available educational resources to educate the general public and to
urge their respective governments to work towards the elimination of nuclear
weapons.
5. Requests all National Medical Associations to join the WMA in supporting this
Declaration and to urge their respective governments to work to ban and eliminate
nuclear weapons.