Are Weapons of Mass Destruction Ever Justified

The weapons of mass destruction, weapons that have the capacity to cause destruction and death on a huge scale. They are usually classified into four different categories radiological, nuclear, chemical and biological. With modern technology, we have reached a point where these weapons are so powerful and destructive that with the push of a button, they could destroy all our entire planet. These weapons existed since the 1930s and they are still in a developing process. The first atomic bombs ever used were during World War 2 when the United States detonated two nuclear bombs on the two Japanese cities, Hiroshima and Nagasaki.

The catastrophic effects of these bombs killed around 90,000—140,000 people in Hiroshima and circa 40,000—80,000 people in Nagasaki. But if we compare the bombs dropped during the WW2 with the modern weapons, we have to say that they were nothing compared to the power of our modern WMD. The most powerful nuclear bomb ever created in human history, Tsar Bomba, with 50 megatons of TNT was 3333 times more powerful than the bomb dropped on Nagasaki.

So now the questions are should they be developed? Should they ever be used? We must first all understand the dangers of these weapons, but at the same time try not to forget the effects that these had on Hiroshima and Nagasaki and also take into consideration the modern more sophisticated, powerful and destructive weapons.

The first reasons why they should not be developed is because if they were ever be used, they would kill millions and millions of people.

When a nuclear weapon is detonated it produces a blast of air so powerful that can injure the human body through effects such as rupturing eardrums and lungs or by throwing people at a speed of light. Beyond the effects that we talked about, it can generate an intense pulse of thermal radiation able to roast you alive and even incinerate if you were close enough. The blast can also lead to more long-term consequences such as radiation poisoning that can affect atoms in living things, by damaging tissues and organs and DNA in genes. Exposure to a very high level of radiation can even cause skin problems, fatigue, cancer, and many more other diseases.

Additionally, these weapons can dramatically affect our environment. Scientists and academics all around the globe have hypothesized that if a nuclear conflict between India and Pakistan take place, it would create a smoke layer all around the atmosphere. It would rise to altitudes between 20 and 50 miles above the surface. The smoke would stay there for years. It would block out the 10 percent of the incoming sunlight preventing yield of corns, wheat, and rice to grow. The temperature would fall below ice conditions for the next 1000 thousand years. Moreover, the damage of a nuclear weapon explosion would generate large quantities of waste that will end up in the oceans, rivers, and soil affecting in consequence humans.

The second reason why they should not be developed is that they are futile because they are unable to meet the requirement of today’s challenges. They are useless, they are far away from maintaining peace and also because they trigger fear between countries.

The third reason why they should not be developed is that they are overpriced. To establish the price of nuclear weapons we have to account the cost of their production and maintenance. The USA is planning to invest $2 trillion on the new generation of nuclear bombs, but if want to calculate the exact price of a single nuclear bomb, it would be roughly about $270 million. Imagine if we could use all this money on other sectors such as health, environment, education, climate change, etc.

On the other side there many people who think the contrary. Some people believe that the development of new nuclear weapons can keep our society safe. In the past countries would build a wall to protect the population, but in the modern days, every nation is rushing in developing new and deadlier nuclear weapons to stay ahead of their enemies so the threat of loss was greater than the reward of taking territory.

The second major reason why they should be developed is that they provide foundation for other technologies. For instance, nuclear power can be used to generate electricity, even during harsh condition. It provides us with clean energy to power houses, but that’s not all they can also be used to built naval ships and the heat produced by the nuclear reactors can help us to the production of desalination plants, used to clear the salt from ocean water.

Conclusively I do not support the development of these destructive and costly weapons because just suppose if there was a Third World War, what would happen? Billions and billions of innocent people would die and it would probably have long term consequences on our planet. Instead of investing a huge amount of money on these vain weapons, why not just spend them on more useful sectors. Why can’t we maintain peace in our world? We don’t have to fight with each other because remember we all are brothers and sisters.