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INTERNATIONAL DAY AGAINST NUCLEAR TESTING 29 AUG
Today is UN-recognized International Day against Nuclear testing, a date selected because it is the date on which the worlds second-largest nuclear test site at Semipalatinsk in Kazakhstan, was officially closed, after 456 Soviet nuclear weapons tests brought suffering to nearby Kazakh people.
Further nuclear weapons tests took place in 1998, when India and Pakistan both tested (India for a second time) their nuclear capabilities.
The DPRK has tested in 2006 and again in 2009.
The Comprehensive test Ban treaty, which Australia pushed through the General assembly in 1996, and which would outlaw all nuclear testing, has yet to be ratified – both by the US and by China. Ratification by the US Congress would likely lead to its ratification by China.
The decisive cessation of all nuclear testing is an essential first step toward the elimination of nuclear weapons, which remain capable of extinguishing civilization in less than an hour.
More needs to be done by all governments including Australia's, to accomplish the removal of the nuclear apocalypse from the worlds menu of possibilities.
Contact: John Hallam h9810-2598 (leave msg) m0416-500-793
