FYI: More below . . . >Institute for Public Accuracy >915 National Press Building, Washington, D.C. 20045 >(202) 347-0020 * http://www.accuracy.org * [EMAIL PROTECTED] >___________________________________________________ > >For Release: Not Before 1 PM Eastern Time -- Wednesday, February 23, 2000 > >SCIENTIST'S RESIGNATION RAISES >QUESTIONS ABOUT NUCLEAR POLICY > >A month ago, Andreas Toupadakis held a classified position at the Lawrence >Livermore National Laboratory. But he resigned his post, voicing criticisms >of U.S. nuclear policy. Interviews are available with Dr. Toupadakis and >other nuclear policy analysts: > >ANDREAS TOUPADAKIS, >Prior to joining the staff at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory's >"Stockpile Stewardship" program on nuclear weapons, Toupadakis worked at Los >Alamos National Laboratory. Shortly after resigning, he issued an open >letter which reads in part: "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?" He cited a manifesto issued by Albert >Einstein and Bertrand Russell: "People can scarcely bring themselves to >grasp that they, individually, and those whom they love are in imminent >danger of perishing agonizingly." (See: >http://www.pgs.ca/pages/mem/russeinm.html) > >Today, Toupadakis, a native of Greece and a U.S. citizen who received his >Ph.D. from the University of Michigan, said: "Our nuclear policy is based on >irrational fears driven by a tiny group of elites who shape public opinion. Same can be said for Internet policy. >We scientists have to use our skills for humanity, not for a machine we have >no control over. Same can be said for computer scientists. >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 I hope our Internet "fathers" are listening! Jay. >on the weapons. Labs must >institute an informed consent upon hiring -- and they should stop luring >students to visit the labs." > >JACQUELINE CABASSO, >Executive director of the Western States Legal Foundation, Cabasso said: "A >scientist in the prime of his career has never before left a high-paying >permanent position in the nuclear weapons program to wholeheartedly join the >peace movement." Toupadakis has begun to teach part-time and is making a >small fraction of his former salary, and is without health insurance. > >TED TAYLOR, >An architect for decades of the U.S. nuclear program, including at Los >Alamos, and now a critic of U.S. nuclear policy, Taylor said: "I applaud >Toupadakis. He was hired to work on environmental problems associated with >getting rid of nuclear weapons. But our government's policy is not to get >rid of nuclear weapons -- it is to perpetuate them through the >euphemistically-called 'stockpile stewardship' program." > >For more information, contact at the Institute for Public Accuracy: >Sam Husseini, (202) 347-0020; David Zupan, (541) 484-9167 Respectfully, Jay Fenello, New Media Relations ------------------------------------ http://www.fenello.com 770-392-9480 Aligning with Purpose(sm) ... for a Better World ------------------------------------------------ "The unexamined life isn't worth living" -- Socrates
