Ending Nuclear Weapons, Before They End Us
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.5195/ijms.2025.3482Keywords:
World Health Assembly (WHA), World Health Organization (WHO), Nuclear War, Humanitarian Consequences, Global Security, Nuclear Taboo, Doomsday Clock, UN Scientific Panel, Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons, Climate Disruption, Health Professionals, International Advocacy, Artificial Intelligence and Nuclear RiskMetrics
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Copyright (c) 2025 Kamran Abbasi, Parveen Ali, Virginia Barbour, Marion Birch, Inga Blum, Peter Doherty, Andy Haines, Ira Helfand, Richard Horton, Kati Juva, Jose F Lapena , Robert Mash, Olga Mironova, Arun Mitra, Carlos Monteiro, Elena N. Naumova, David Onazi, Peush Sahni, James Tumwine, Carlos Umaña, Paul Yonga, Chris Zielinski

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