War by definition is a major cause of human disease and death, even though it also spurs research in the fields of medicine and surgery. The rapid and momentous advances of science and technology are being translated into an increasingly broad range of new weapons capable of inflicting lethal harm to living systems and the environment by targeting the weather, the climate, the ecosphere, the Earth's crust, the genome and even the neuro-psychic constitution of human beings. The consequences for life on Earth, whether intended or accidental, are wide-ranging and catastrophic.
