US - In February, Andreas Toupadakis resigned from a highly paid position doing classified work at the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory in California. Toupadakis, who previously worked at the US nuclear weapons facility in Los Alamos issued the following public statement:
"I have seen how easy it is for nuclear contamination to occur, and how hard it is to clean it up…. Do nations possess nuclear, chemical and biological weapons because of fear of attack from some other nation, or is it mainly because without them the stronger cannot otherwise exploit the weaker.
Our nuclear policy is based on irrational fears driven by a tiny group of elites who shape public opinion. We scientists have to use our skills for humanity, not for a machine we have no control over. Scientists are enticed into comfortable positions, grow dependent on the security and then they are tormented, playing tricks on their own minds to justify continuing to work on the weapons." Ted Taylor, a retired veteran of the US nuclear bomb program applauded Toupadakis' action and stated: "Our government's policy is not to get rid of nuclear weapons - it is to perpetuate them through the euphemistically-called 'stockpile stewardship' program."
[Toupadakis' complete statement is available from the Institute for Public Accuracy, 915 National Press Building, Washington, DC 20045, (202) 347-0020.]
Environmental Hero: Andreas Toupadakis