Med News Today

U.S. unprepared for nuclear radiation

A study by Physicians for Social Responsibility shows the United States is still not prepared for a terrorist nuclear attack.

Half a decade after the September 11, 2001 attacks and one year after Hurricane Katrina overwhelmed a region’s health care system, the United States remains dangerously unprepared to deal with the medical aftermath of a terrorist attack involving nuclear weapons, dirty bombs or explosions at nuclear power plants, according to a new report.

To evaluate U.S. readiness, Physicians for Social Responsibility (PSR) created casualty maps for three plausible nuclear terrorism scenarios – a nuclear weapons blast in lower Manhattan, an attack on a nuclear power plant near Chicago, and detonation of a dirty bomb near the White House – and evaluated the medical and public health consequences. The authors then examined steps that should be taken to try to minimize deaths and injuries.

Dr. Ira Helfand, one of the co-authors of The U.S. and Nuclear Terrorism: Still Dangerously Unprepared, explained, “We found that the U.S. government lacks a workable plan to respond to the likely medical needs. Thousands of American civilians injured by a nuclear terrorist attack could survive with better preparedness.” Dr. Helfand, a Massachusetts emergency physician, is a member of PSR’s board of directors.

Other findings from the report include:

• The U.S. has no system for determining whether people should try to evacuate or take shelter at home or work after an attack


• No central coordinating authority has been designated to step in to direct response and rescue efforts


• Plans for establishing field medical care, mobilizing health care personnel, and deploying supplies to the site of an attack are inadequate


• The U.S. public health system, which would bear a large burden in responding to nuclear terrorism, is under-funded and under-staffed

posted by nattietodd @ 7:37 AM