GBPSR, IPPNW, PSR Co-sponsor "This is Not a Test: A Forum on Terrorism, Health and Security"

This is a Fall 2002 Newsletter Featured Article.

Other Featured Articles:

• Boston/ San Francisco IHW Trainings

On January 15, 2002, GBPSR co-sponsored a forum at Faneuil Hall in Boston on the topic of terrorism and its impact on civilian populations. The forum was planned in the aftermath of the September 11 attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon. The evening panel was chaired by John Loretz, of IPPNW. John noted that Faneuil Hall was the location of a meeting marking the re-birth of PSR in March 1979, on the day of the partial meltdown of the Three Mile Island nuclear plant in Pennsylvania.

The panel included six speakers and was followed by a question and answer period. The first speaker, Lachlan Forrow MD, a physician at Beth Israel Hospital and long-time PSR and IPPNW leader, addressed the ongoing threat posed by the nuclear weapons arsenals in the U.S. and Russia. He urged the audience to become part of the future solution to this threat. Dr. Forrow compared the destructive power of the Sept. 11 attacks with the destructive power of the combined nuclear arsenals using a single "bb" pellet with the number of pellets in a liter jar. The point was not to minimize the Sept. attacks, but to point out the vastly larger potential destruction in the event of a nuclear conflict and the "hair-trigger" status of those weapons.

The second speaker was Jeanne Guillemin PhD, a professor at Boston College, who discussed bioterrorism and the anthrax attacks on politicians and media figures the previous Fall. She compared these attacks, which were deadly to several postal employees and others who received exposures through the mail, to the bioterrorism attack using nerve gas in the Tokyo subway system. Dr. Guillemin stressed that the U.S. anthrax was different from any that had been developed in preparedness training scenarios. In particular, she wanted the audience to realize that the anthrax was "military grade" and was a strain developed by the U.S. in its biological weapons program.

Dr. Richard Clapp, an epidemiologist at B.U. and Vice-Chair of GBPSR, then described some lessons learned from nuclear power plant accidents and radioactive releases. He described the potential hazards from releases of radioactive material from nuclear power plants that were themselves the targets of a terrorist attack. He urged the audience to support the distribution of potassium iodide (KI) as a preventive measure against thyroid cancer in such a scenario.

Dr. Clapp was followed by David Ozonoff MD MPH, Chair of Environmental Health at B.U. School of Pubic Health, who pointed out the lack of preparedness in the public health and hospital infrastructure. He described the inability of the existing hospitals to handle a large number of burn victims, for example, and he called for a new attitude toward public service and public health in order the meet the potential health threat from terrorist attacks.

The psychological impacts of the trauma and fear engendered by a terrorist attack were the topic of Boston psychiatrist Ruth Barron MD's presentation. She described her work with the Red Cross in implementing a network of volunteer professionals to provide counseling services along with the physical health and security services provided to victims of traumatic events. She urged the audience to remember at least one thing from her talk, e.g., "it is the disaster that is abnormal, not the individual" who is suffering from the effects of surviving it.

Finally, Jill Stein MD, who currently practices at Simmons College, gave a family doctor's prescription for what we all can do to preserve our health and security in these times. One suggestion was to change our government, but short of that, urge individuals to preserve their own and their family's health by taking seriously the strategies we already know about. Furthermore, we should all press for preventive policy on the statewide and national levels, including active work toward eliminating weapons of mass destruction.

The evening ended with questions from the audience and answers from panelists and other members of the audience. As always, the ultimate impact of the Forum can only be measured in the combined actions of the people who felt inspired to do something in the subsequent weeks and months. Judging from the earnestness and seriousness of those in attendance, that impact was no doubt considerable.

 - Dick Clapp

Many thanks to the following for financial or in-kind support:

• PSR National
• Wainwright Bank Community Fund of the Boston Foundation
• The Boston University Basic Superfund Research Project
• David duBusc, photography
• Rosylyn Rhee, videographer