India-Pak Nuclear Clash may Trigger Global Starvation


"The grim prospect of nuclear famine requires a fundamental change in our thinking about nuclear weapons," said Helfand in the study, which was also released by IPPNW's U.S. affiliate, Physicians for Social Responsibility (PSR).

Helfand, IPPNW's North American vice president, worked with data produced by scientists who have studied the climate effects of a hypothetical nuclear war between India and Pakistan.

Helfand and a team of experts in agriculture and nutrition determined that plunging temperatures and reduced precipitation in critical farming regions, caused by soot and smoke lofted into the atmosphere by multiple nuclear explosions, would interfere with crop production and affect food availability and prices worldwide.

The study found that a limited regional nuclear weapons exchange between India and Pakistan would result in decline in U.S. corn production by an average of 10 percent  for an entire decade, with the most severe decline - 20 percent - occurring in the fifth year after such a war.

Soybean production would decline by about seven per cent. China would also see a significant decline in its middle-season rice production.

Source: PTI