When people do think about nuclear weapons and are asked if they favor nuclear abolition, an overwhelming majority (87 percent in the US) says Yes. In fact, a poll conducted by the Pew Research Center for People and the Press found that a majority of people polled rank nuclear weapons as the worst invention of the century.

Despite some gains in recent years, the leaders of the nuclear weapons states are far from carrying out the will of the people. We find that what our leaders say and what they do are often entirely different.

For example, the US government repeatedly states that it favors the elimination of nuclear weapons. Yet it is modernizing its nuclear arsenal, conducting subcritical nuclear weapons tests, and has admitted that reliance on nuclear weapons will remain a cornerstone of national security policy for the indefinite future. The other nuclear states -- and near-nuclear states -- follow the leader.

With our affiliated organizations in the top five nuclear weapons states -- the US, Russia, the UK, France, and China -- IPPNW works to change national government policies and to divest these countries of their huge arsenals. IPPNW is also active in South Asia, North Asia, and the Middle East where nuclear arms races are in early stages. In these regions, IPPNW is mobilizing physicians, citizens, and policy makers to stop nuclear proliferation.