Nuclear Madness

The dark side of history: https://thememoryhole.substack.com/

Helen Mary Caldicott (born 7 August 1938) is an Australian physician, author, and anti-nuclear advocate. She founded several associations dedicated to opposing the use of nuclear power, depleted uranium munitions, nuclear weapons, nuclear weapons proliferation, and military action in general.
Early life and education

Helen Caldicott was born on 7 August 1938, in Melbourne, Australia, the daughter of factory manager Philip Broinowski and Mary Mona Enyd (Coffey) Broinowski, an interior designer. She attended public school, except for four years at Fintona Girls' School at Balwyn, a private secondary school. When she was 17, she enrolled at the University of Adelaide medical school and graduated in 1961 with a MBBS degree. In 1962, she married William Caldicott, a paediatric radiologist who has since worked with her in her campaigns. They have three children, Philip, Penny, and William Jr.[1][dubious – discuss]

Caldicott and her husband moved to Boston, Massachusetts, in 1966 and she entered a three-year fellowship in nutrition at Harvard Medical School. Returning to Adelaide in 1969, she accepted a position in the renal unit of Queen Elizabeth Hospital. In the early 1970s, she completed a year's residency and a two-year internship in paediatrics at the Adelaide Childrens Hospital to qualify as a paediatric physician so she could legitimately establish the first Australian clinic for cystic fibrosis at the Adelaide Childrens Hospital. The clinic now has the best survival rates in Australia.[citation needed] In 1977, she joined the staff of the Children's Hospital Medical Center in Boston as an instructor in pediatrics. She taught paediatrics at the Harvard Medical School from 1977 to 1980.[1]
Anti-nuclear activism
Early activity
Caldicott at the San Francisco Public Library

Caldicott's interest in nuclear issues was sparked when she read the 1957 Nevil Shute book On the Beach, a novel about a nuclear holocaust set in Australia.[2]

In the 1970s, she gained prominence in Australia, New Zealand and North America, speaking on the health hazards of radiation from the perspective of paediatrics. Her early achievements included convincing Australia to sue France over its atmospheric testing of nuclear weapons in the Pacific in 1971 and 1972, which brought the practice to an end. She also informed Australian trade unions about the medical and military dangers of uranium mining, which led to the three-year banning of the mining and export of uranium.[3]

After visiting the Soviet Union in 1979 with an AFSC delegation and upon learning the impending US deployment of cruise missiles (which would end arms control) and Pershing II missiles that could hit Moscow from Europe in 3 minutes,[4] Caldicott left her medical career to concentrate on calling the world's attention to what she referred to as the "insanity" of the nuclear arms race and the growing reliance on nuclear power. In 1978 she reinvigorated Physicians for Social Responsibility. Over time she and others recruited 23,000 physicians to this organisation which, through wide educational efforts, taught the US public about the dire medical implications of both nuclear power and nuclear war. In 1985 this national organisation and many others, she founded around the world were awarded the 1985 Nobel Peace Prize. She was herself nominated for the Nobel Prize by Linus Pauling, himself a Nobel winner.[4]

In 1980, she founded the Women's Action for Nuclear Disarmament (WAND) in the United States, which was later renamed Women's Action for New Directions. It is a group dedicated to reducing or redirecting government spending away from nuclear energy and nuclear weapons towards what the group perceives as unmet social issues.[5]

Caldicott stood as an independent candidate for the Australian House of Representatives at the 1990 federal election, contesting the Division of Richmond, against the Leader of the National Party, Charles Blunt. She polled 23.3% of the votes; not enough to win, but her preferences went mostly to the Labor candidate, Neville Newell, electing him and unseating Blunt.

In 2002 Caldicott released The New Nuclear Danger, a commentary on the George Bush Military-Industrial Complex. The book was reviewed by Ivan Eland of The Independent Institute. He wrote, "She makes many cogent criticisms about current and prior administrations’ nuclear policies and the excesses of the government-dominated military-industrial complex associated with nuclear weapons, but her often valid points are undermined by other far-fetched or alarmist arguments, sloppy research, and haphazard footnoting."[6]

In 2008 Caldicott founded the Helen Caldicott Foundation for a Nuclear Free Future which, for over four years, produced a weekly radio commentary, "If You Love This Planet".[7]

In April 2011, Caldicott was involved in a public argument in The Guardian with British journalist George Monbiot. Monbiot expressed great concern at what he saw as a failure by Caldicott to provide adequate justification for any of her arguments. Regarding Caldicott's book Nuclear Power is Not The Answer, he wrote: "The scarcity of references to scientific papers and the abundance of unsourced claims it contains amaze me."[8][9] Caldicott claimed, "As we have seen, he and other nuclear industry apologists sow confusion about radiation risks and, in my view, in much the same way that the tobacco industry did in previous decades about the risks of smoking."[10] Also in 2011, Caldicott made a written submission regarding the Darlington Nuclear Generating Station new build project in Canada in which she asserts that plutonium can cause cancer of the testicles after accumulation in these organs.[11]

In 2014, Physicians for Social Responsibility hosted a lecture on "Fukushima's Ongoing Impact" by Caldicott in Seattle, Washington.[12]
Honors and awards

Caldicott has been awarded 21 honorary doctoral degrees[citation needed]. In 1982, she received the Humanist of the Year award from the American Humanist Association.[13] In 1992, Caldicott received the 1992 Peace Abbey Courage of Conscience Award at the John F. Kennedy Presidential Library in Boston for her leadership in the worldwide disarmament movement. She was inducted to the Victorian Honour Roll of Women[14] in 2001. She was awarded the Lannan Foundation Prize for Cultural Freedom in 2003, and in 2006, the Peace Organisation of Australia presented her with the inaugural Australian Peace Prize "for her longstanding commitment to raising awareness about the medical and environmental hazards of the nuclear age". The Smithsonian Institution has named Caldicott as one of the most influential women of the 20th century.[15] She is a member of the scientific committee of the Fundacion IDEAS, a progressive think tank in Spain. She serves on the Advisory Council of the Nuclear Age Peace.[16] In 2009, she was designated a Women's History Month Honoree by the National Women's History Project.[17]
Bibliography
Books by Helen Caldicott[18] Title Year of Publication Publisher(s) ISBN Role
Nuclear Madness: What You Can Do! 1978 (revised 1994) W.W. Norton & Company ISBN 0393310116 Author
Missile Envy: The Arms Race and Nuclear War 1984 William Morrow & Co ISBN 978-0688019549 Author
If You Love This Planet 1992 W. W. Norton & Company ISBN 978-0393308358 Author
A Desperate Passion: An Autobiography 1996 W.W. Norton & Company ISBN 0393316807 Author
Metal of Dishonor: How Depleted Uranium Penetrates Steel, Radiates People and Contaminates the Environment 1997 International Action Center ISBN 0965691608 Author
The New Nuclear Danger: George W.Bush's Military-industrial Complex 2002 (revised 2004) The New Press

Scribe Publications (Australia)
ISBN 1565847407, 0908011652 Author
Nuclear Power is Not the Answer 2006 The New Press

Melbourne University Press
ISBN 978-1595580672 Author
War in Heaven: The Arms Race in Outer Space 2007 The New Press ISBN 978-1595581143 Co-author with Craig Eisendrath
Carbon-Free and Nuclear-Free: A Roadmap for U.S. Energy Policy 2007 RDR Books ISBN 978-1571431738 Author of Afterword (author is Arjun Makhijani)
If You Love This Planet: A Plan to Save the Earth 2009 W.W. Norton & Company ISBN 978-0393333022 Author
Loving This Planet 2012 The New Press ISBN 978-1595580672 Editor
Crisis Without End: The Medical and Ecological Consequences of the Fukushima Nuclear Catastrophe 2014 The New Press ISBN 978-1595589606 Editor
Sleepwalking to Armageddon 2017 The New Press ISBN 978-1620972465 Editor
Documentary films

Caldicott has appeared in numerous documentary films and television programs. In the early 1980s, she was the subject of two documentaries: the Oscar-nominated 1981 feature-length film Eight Minutes to Midnight: A Portrait of Dr. Helen Caldicott and the 1982 Oscar-winning National Film Board of Canada short documentary, If You Love This Planet.[19]

A 2004 documentary film, Helen's War: Portrait of a Dissident,[20] provides a look into Caldicott's life through the eyes of her niece, filmmaker Anna Broinowski.

Caldicott is featured along with foreign affairs experts, space security activists and military officials in interviews in Denis Delestrac's 2010 feature documentary Pax Americana and the Weaponization of Space.

The 2013 documentary Pandora's Promise also features footage of Caldicott, interspersed with counter-points to her assertions regarding the health impacts of the Chernobyl nuclear disaster.
Title Director Production Company Year
The World Awaits Don Haderlein 2015 (in production)
The Oracles of Pennsylvania Avenue Tim Wilkerson 2013
United Natures Peter Charles Downey United Natures Independent Media 2013
Pandora's Promise Robert Stone Robert Stone Productions, Vulcan Productions 2013
Democracy Now! (TV Series) Democracy Now 2011
The University of Nuclear Bombs Mohamed Elsawi, Joshua James 2010
Pax Americana and the Weaponization of Space Denis Delestrac Coptor Productions Inc., Lowik Media 2009
Difference of Opinion (TV Series) Australian Broadcasting Corporation 2007
Poison Dust Sue Harris 2005
Fatal Fallout: The Bush Legacy Gary Null Gary Null Moving Pictures 2004
Helen's War: Portrait of a Dissident Anna Broinowski 2004
American Experience (TV documentary) WGBH 1998
In Our Hands Robert Richter, Stanley Warnow 1984
If You Love This Planet (short) Terri Nash National Film Board of Canada 1982
Eight Minutes to Midnight: A Portrait of Dr. Helen Caldicott Mary Benjamin 1981
We are the Guinea Pigs Joan Harvey 1980
See also

Propaganda
Antimilitarism
Anti-nuclear movement in Australia
Anti-nuclear movement in the United States
List of peace activists
Nuclear weapons and the United States
Nuclear-free zone
Nuclear-Weapon-Free Zone
Treaty of Rarotonga
Akhtar Naraghi
Michio Kaku

References

"Helen Caldicott Biography (1938-)". www.faqs.org.
Dullea, Georgia (2 June 1979). "Pediatrician believes babies more susceptible to radiation". The Index-Journal. Greenwood, South Carolina. Retrieved 20 January 2015.
"CV – Helen Caldicott, M.D." Helen Caldicott. Retrieved 4 August 2017.
A Desperate Passion
Sheldon, Sayre (October 2004). "A Brief History of WAND". WAND Education Fund. Archived from the original on 27 July 2015. Retrieved 26 July 2015.
"Book Review". Independent Institute. Retrieved 15 May 2021.
"If You Love This Planet weekly radio program archives". Retrieved 6 May 2009.
Monbiot G. Nuclear opponents have a moral duty to get their facts straight. The Guardian, 14 April 2011
Monbiot G.The unpalatable truth is that the anti-nuclear lobby has misled us all. The Guardian, 5 April 2011
Caldicott H. How nuclear apologists mislead the world over radiation.The Guardian, 11 April 2011
https://www.ceaa-acee.gc.ca/050/documents/48010/48010F.pdf Written Submission from Helen Caldicott, PMB 11-P1.108, Date 2011-02-17
Fukushima’s Ongoing Impact Archived 10 April 2015 at the Wayback Machine; Physicians for Social Responsibility; 28 September 2014
"Remedy for Global Instability – a Public Lecture by Dr Helen Caldicott". 12 November 2016.
"Victorian Honour Roll of Women 2001" (PDF).
Anti-nuclear Activist Dr. Helen Caldicott to Appear; Cape Cod Today; 28 March 2012 [dead link]
Advisory Council Archived 1 August 2018 at the Wayback Machine; Nuclear Age Peace Foundation; 20 February 2014
"Honorees: 2010 National Women's History Month". Women's History Month. National Women's History Project. 2010. Archived from the original on 28 August 2014. Retrieved 14 November 2011.
"Books". Trove. National Library of Australia. Retrieved 16 March 2015.
Nash, Terre (1982). "If You Love This Planet". NFB.ca. National Film Board of Canada. Retrieved 30 April 2009.

"CBC The Passionate Eye Sunday Showcase: Helen's War, Portrait of a Dissident". Archived from the original on 15 January 2006. Retrieved 15 January 2006.

External links
Wikimedia Commons has media related to Helen Caldicott.

www.helencaldicott.com – Helen Caldicott's official website
www.ifyoulovethisplanet.org Helen Caldicott's weekly radio program, "If You Love This Planet"
Watch a video clip of Helen Caldicott at Big Picture TV
Video of Speech on Depleted Uranium from Freespeech.org
Anti Nuclear Oxford debate by former New Zealand PM David Lange
Heyoka Magazine Interview
KGNU Denver interview with Claudia Cragg in July 2007 about Japan's Nuclear Industry and Earthquakes
Appearances on C-SPAN by Caldicott
Nuclear power no answer to climate change
Helen Caldicott Papers at the Sophia Smith Collection, Smith College.
Helen Caldicott at IMDb

vte

Pacem in Terris Peace and Freedom Award laureates

vte

Anti-nuclear movement in the United States

vte

Anti-nuclear movement in Australia
Organisations
and groups

The Australia Institute Australian Conservation Foundation Australian Greens Australian Labor Party Campaign Against Nuclear Energy Conservation Council of South Australia Friends of the Earth Australia Greenpeace Australia Pacific Kupa Piti Kungka Tjuta Medical Association for Prevention of War Mineral Policy Institute Nuclear Disarmament Party Peace Organisation of Australia The Wilderness Society

People

Dorothy Auchterlonie Green David Bradbury Bob Brown Eileen Kampakuta Brown Kevin Buzzacott Helen Caldicott Moss Cass Ian Cohen Michael Denborough Mark Diesendorf Jim Falk Peter Garrett Jim Green Margaret Holmes Jacqui Katona Sandra Kanck Ian Lowe Scott Ludlam Yvonne Margarula Dee Margetts Jean Melzer Kerry Nettle Tilman Ruff Nancy Shelley Jo Vallentine Patrick White Stuart White Eileen Wani Wingfield

Books

Britain, Australia and the Bomb Greenhouse Solutions with Sustainable Energy Maralinga: Australia's Nuclear Waste Cover-up Reaction Time: Climate Change and the Nuclear Option

See also

Australia and weapons of mass destruction Australian Uranium Association List of inquiries into uranium mining in Australia Lists of nuclear disasters and radioactive incidents Nuclear power in Australia Nuclear weapons tests in Australia Olympic Dam mine Ranger Uranium Environmental Inquiry Renewable energy commercialization Renewable energy in Australia Say Yes demonstrations Uranium mining in Australia Uranium mining in Kakadu National Park

vte

Gandhi Peace Award laureates
1960–1979

1960 Eleanor Roosevelt / Edwin T. Dahlberg 1961 Maurice Eisendrath / John Haynes Holmes 1962 Linus Pauling / James Warburg 1963 E. Stanley Jones 1964 1965 1966 A. J. Muste 1967 Norman Thomas / Jerome Davis / William Sloane Coffin 1968 Benjamin Spock 1969 1970 Wayne Morse / Willard Uphaus 1971 1972 U Thant 1973 1974 1975 Dorothy Day 1976 Daniel Ellsberg 1977 1978 Peter Benenson / Martin Ennals 1979 Roland Bainton

1980–1999

1980 Helen Caldicott 1981 Corliss Lamont 1982 Randall Watson Forsberg 1983 1984 Robert Jay Lifton / Kay Camp 1985 1986 Bernard Lown 1987 John Somerville 1988 1989 César Chávez 1990 Marian Wright Edelman 1991 George McGovern 1992 Ramsey Clark 1993 Lucius Walker 1994 Roy Bourgeois 1995 Edith Ballantyne 1996 New Haven-León Sister City Project
Alan Wright Paula Kline 1997 Howard / Alice Frazier 1998 1999

2000–2019

2000 2001 2002 Michael True 2003 Dennis Kucinich 2004 Karen Jacob / David Cortright 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 Ehud Bandel / Arik Ascherman 2012 Amy Goodman 2013 Bill McKibben 2014 Medea Benjamin 2015 Tom B.K. Goldtooth / Kathy Kelly 2016 2017 Ralph Nader / Omar Barghouti 2018 Jackson Browne

vte

Anti-war and peace movement
Peace advocates

Anti-nuclear organizations Anti-war movement Anti-war organizations Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions Coalition of Women for Peace Code Pink Conscientious objectors Counterculture Culture of Peace ECOPEACE Party Greenham Common Women's Peace Camp Iraq War resisters in Canada List of pacifist organisations List of peace activists New Socialist Party of Japan Pacifist Socialist Party Peace and conflict studies Peace camp Peace churches Peace commission Peace conference Peace congress Peace education Peace movement Peace psychology Peace treaty Peaceworker React, Include, Recycle Social Democratic Party (Japan) Unity The Women's Peace Crusade War resisters Women's International League for Peace and Freedom

Ideologies

Ahimsa Anarchism
Anarcho-pacifism Anarcho-punks Christian anarchism Anti-imperialism Anti-nuclear movement Antimilitarism Appeasement Christian pacifism Deterrence theory Direct action Finvenkismo Green politics Hippie Isolationism Modern-war pacifism Non-interventionism Nonkilling Nonviolence Pacificism Pacifism Peace Satyagraha Soviet influence on the peace movement Testimony of peace World peace

Media and cultural

Art Books Concert Yutel for Peace Dances of Universal Peace Festival for Peace Films Imagine Piano Peace Project International Day of Non-Violence International Day of Peace Dialogue Among Civilizations List of peace prizes List of places named Peace Monuments and memorials Mother's Day Proclamation Nobel Peace Prize Concert Museums Peace & Love (festival) Peace journalism
Peace News Promoting Enduring Peace Peace One Day Plays Promoting Enduring Peace Show of Peace Concert Songs Symbols The Non-Violence Project University for Peace World Peace Bell Association
Japanese Peace Bell Women in Black World March for Peace and Nonviolence

Slogans and tactics

1991–1992 anti-war protests in Belgrade Bed-In Boycotts of Israel Central Park be-ins Civil disobedience Conflict resolution Counter-recruitment De-escalation Demilitarisation Department of Peace Desertion Disinvestment from Israel Draft evasion Die-in Economic sanctions Flower power Global Day of Action on Military Spending Human Be-In Lesson of Munich "Make love, not war" Non-aggression principle Nonviolent resistance Non Violent Resistance (psychological intervention) Peace walk Peacebuilding Refusal to serve in the Israel Defense Forces "Soldiers are murderers" Swords to ploughshares Teach-in "The whole world is watching" Third Party Non-violent Intervention "Turn the other cheek" "Violence begets violence" War tax resisters

Opposition to specific
wars or their aspects

War of 1812 (UK; US) American Civil War Second Boer War World War I World War II Vietnam War
list of protests War on Terror Iraq War
Criticism Protests Afghanistan War Military action in Iran Sri Lankan Civil War 2011 intervention in Libya Anti-war protests in Russia (2014) 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine
in Russia in Russian Far East Landmines Military taxation Nuclear disarmament

Countries

Canada Costa Rica Germany Israel Japan Netherlands Spain Sudan Switzerland United Kingdom United States Peacebuilding in Jammu and Kashmir

Category

vte

Anti-nuclear movement
Protests
and groups

Anti-nuclear organizations Anti-nuclear power groups Anti-nuclear protests Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament Greenpeace International Association of Lawyers against Nuclear Arms International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons International Day against Nuclear Tests International Physicians for the Prevention of Nuclear War Mayors for Peace Nuclear Information and Resource Service Nevada Desert Experience Nuclear Weapons Freeze Campaign Peace Action and SANE Physicians for Social Responsibility Pembina Institute Sortir du nucléaire World Uranium Hearing

By country

Australia Austria Canada France Germany India Japan Kazakhstan New Zealand Philippines Poland Russia South Africa South Korea Spain Sweden Switzerland Taiwan Turkey United Kingdom United States

People

Tadatoshi Akiba Daniel Berrigan Albert Bigelow Helen Caldicott Norman Cousins Gordon Edwards Albert Einstein Randall Forsberg John Gofman Jim Green Paul Gunter Otto Hahn Nobuto Hosaka Jackie Hudson Kate Hudson Ole Kopreitan David Lange Amory Lovins Bernard Lown Caroline Lucas Freda Meissner-Blau Gregory Minor Hermann Joseph Muller Kenzaburō Ōe Linus Pauling Mike Pentz C. F. Powell Adi Roche Joseph Rotblat Tilman Ruff Bertrand Russell Jens Scheer Jonathan Schell Albert Schweitzer Christopher Weeramantry

Media

Books about nuclear issues Films about nuclear issues Nuclear holocaust fiction Nuclear weapons in popular culture Songs about nuclear war and weapons

Related
topics

Anti-war movement Bikini Atoll Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists Defence Secretariat 19 France and weapons of mass destruction Göttingen Manifesto History of the anti-nuclear movement Advisory opinion on the Legality of the Threat or Use of Nuclear Weapons Lists of nuclear disasters and radioactive incidents Mainau Declaration Nuclear-Free Future Award Nuclear-free zone Nuclear power debate Nuclear power phase-out Nuclear weapons debate Peace activists Otto Hahn Peace Medal Peace movement Peace camp Russell–Einstein Manifesto Stockholm International Peace Research Institute Smiling Sun The Bomb

Category

Authority control databases Edit this at Wikidata
International

FAST ISNI VIAF

National

Germany Israel Belgium United States Korea Netherlands Poland

People

Australian Women's Register Deutsche Biographie

Other

SNAC IdRef

Categories:

1938 birthsLiving peopleActivists from MelbourneAustralian agnosticsAustralian anti–nuclear weapons activistsAustralian anti–nuclear power activistsAustralian autobiographersAustralian humanistsAustralian paediatriciansWomen pediatriciansAustralian political writersHarvard Medical School facultyMedical doctors from MelbourneNon-fiction environmental writersUniversity of Adelaide Medical School alumniNonviolence advocates