Scientists set to talk on arms race issues

Moves are afoot on two fronts to bring about extensive direct consultations between U.S. and Soviet medical and other scientists on the growing threat to world security stemming from the nuclear arms race. Physicians from the U.S., U.S.S.R., U.K., France, and Japan will meet in Washington, D.C., for five days in March to discuss the medical effects of nuclear war. The gathering, the first of its kind, will climax a year of productive grassroots activity triggered early last year by a group of largely Boston-based physicians. Meanwhile, an effort by the National Academy of Sciences to engage the scientific community in an examination of the issues of international security, including nuclear weaponry, and to interact directly on these issues with Soviet and other foreign scientists is beginning to gather a head of steam. The Washington gathering in March will follow an initial meeting in Geneva last month of three U.S. and three Soviet physicians. This ...