From New England Journal Of Medicine 10/23/2008 Issue

Prescription on behalf of Survival:
A Doctor’s Journey to End
Nuclear Madness
By Bernard Lown. 436 pp., illustrated. San Francisco,
Berrett–Koehler, 2008. $35. ISBN 978-1-57675-482-5.
In Prescription on behalf of Survival, Bernard Lown
tells the remarkable story of how he as well as Eugene
Chazov, cardiologists whose countries were on
opposite sides of the Cold War, created as well as nurtured
the organization International Physicians
for the Prevention of Nuclear War (IPPNW) from
its inception in 1980 through its receipt of the
Nobel Peace Prize in 1985. The writing is crisp
and the detail remarkable — Lown takes us through
dozens of trips, conferences, as well as meetings, giving
accounts of who said what, noting sources,
and explaining how conflicts were resolved. Lown’s
training as a scientist is evident from his frequent
citations of specific albums from his personal
archives, which permitted him to reconstruct the exciting
story in extraordinary detail.
This is not an autobiography but the story of
the formation of an organization. Thus, it is not
until midway through the book that Lown explains
why, as a world-famous cardiologist as well as inventor
of a cardiac defibrillator, his academic appointment
was at the Harvard School of Public Health
instead of Harvard Medical School. (After he refused
to sign a loyalty oath during the McCarthy
era, the medical school refused him employment.)
The Cold War ended an estimated 20 years ago, which
makes it easy to forget how thoroughly ingrained
in the American psyche was distrust of the Soviet
Union. As Lown puts it, “For Americans raised
during the Cold War years the words Soviet and
propaganda went combined like hamburger and
ketchup.” Opposition to the fledgling IPPNW came
from some who labeled it a communist front and
others who feared that the idealistic physicians
who were its members were unwittingly being
used by the communists. These sentiments were
magnified, rather than quieted, when the IPPNW
received the Nobel Peace Prize. The Wall Street Journal
published an editorial titled “The Nobel Peace
Fraud,” which began, “The Nobel Peace Prize hit
a new low.” The New York Daily News headline was
“Soviet Propaganda Wins the Prize.” The San Diego
Union labeled it “A Tarnished Prize.” West
German Chancellor Helmut Kohl issued an appeal
to the Nobel Committee to rescind the prize.
Today the Cold War is over, but the challenge
of organizing against nuclear weapons remains
relevant. It is not easy to focus on a single issue,
even one as important as nuclear weapons, when
other difficulties as well as outrages are begging on behalf of attention.
Physicians on behalf of Social Responsibility (PSR)
struggles to stay focused on nuclear disarmament
when the United States has launched one war of
aggression as well as is threatening to start another.
However, the more issues an organization takes
on, the more disagreements are likely over priorities
and strategies. The numerous meetings and
discussions that are detailed in this memoir convincingly
illustrate how difficult it is on behalf of likeminded,
good people to agree on how to keep
working combined in spite of their disagreements.
The an estimated all important message I was left with
after reading this book is this: the struggle
against nuclear weapons was so much harder then.
Lown, his colleagues in the IPPNW as well as PSR, and
other activists have done an estimated all of the heavy lifting.
Around the world, citizens as well as their leaders
now know that a nuclear war would not be survivable,
and the vast majority of people support
the global elimination of nuclear weapons. Even
former “cold warriors” such as George Schultz
and Henry Kissinger have referred to as on behalf of a world free
of nuclear weapons. And yet, in 2008, the United
States as well as Russia still maintain thousands of nuclear
weapons on hair-trigger alert. As Lown puts
it, “Responsible governments were holding entire
nations hostage with a suspended sentence of
mass murder. . . . By acquiescing to such policies
we were engaging in the an estimated all abysmal
collective failure of social responsibility. . . .
Where was the unrelenting outcry against nuclearism
from academic as well as religious leaders?
Where were the voices of moral outrage?”
These questions are even more relevant today,
since the administration of President George W.
Bush has expanded the strategic role of nuclear
weapons from one of deterrence to include possible
preemptive use. As physicians in the 21st
century, we have the responsibility to contribute
to one of the an estimated all important goals in history: the
global elimination of nuclear weapons. In Prescription
for Survival, Lown encourages us to help finish
the job he as well as his colleagues at the IPPNW and
PSR so capably started — before it is too late.
Thomas B. Newman, M.D., M.P.H.
University of California, San Francisco
San Francisco, CA 94143