Doctors Push for Change

by John Ruhland, ND, Free Press Contributor

he UW students who organized the annual conference of the Student Physicians for Social Responsibility which took place April 9-11 in Seattle did an impressive job. Students, physicians, and community activists from all over the country were present. There were even representatives from several foreign countries.

Medical students are busy in studies, yet these students are so committed to improving society that they are willing to put their energy into a variety of issues. First and foremost was the issue of nuclear weapons. It is clear that there is reason for great current concern, since the onset of nuclear bombardment is controlled in part by computers. The Y2K problem has not been addressed adequately by the Pentagon, nor by the Russian military. The pentagon has spent billions of our dollars without resolving the Y2K problem, and the Russians simply do not have the money necessary to resolve the problem.

Another important issue addressed was nuclear waste, especially the disastrous situation at Hanford, where millions of gallons of radioactive waste have leaked into the soil, the Columbia River, and the aquifers underlying Hanford. These aquifers provide water to the Yakima Valley where much of our food is grown. We learned that more waste has leaked from Hanford than the total amount stored at any other site.

Global warming was discussed in depth, and from the evidence presented is clearly another urgent problem that must be addressed and resolved. The U.S. is producing more of the destructive carbon dioxide, nitrous oxide, and chlorofluorocarbons (CFC's) than is any other country. The financial interests of U.S. companies are promoted and protected by the U.S. government. This is preventing progress towards decreasing production of these environmental pollutants.

The conference also discussed youth violence and domestic violence.

The common denominator of all of these issues is a society which values money more than it values life itself. It is a problem rooted in our economic system which focuses on competition rather than cooperation. Some presenters at the conference completely missed this connection, although most clearly understood the link. One woman, radicalized by being a victim of drug company profiteering, clearly saw the connection, and stated her development of cervical cancer from her mother's use of Diethystilbesterol (DES) was a public and political problem rather than a personal problem. She showed us that the mothers of DES victims blame themselves, even though they themselves are victims of the drug companies.

By understanding the international scope of problems rather than focusing on merely national issues, the conference had a dramatic impact in helping draw connections between apparently unrelated issues. I left with added conviction that all societal problems must be dealt with by fundamental societal change rather than by spending all our effort on "fixing" individual problems. We will be much more effective if the people fighting to force companies to become responsible join forces. People fighting certain drug companies, which profit when people take their deadly drugs, would benefit by working with those fighting the Department of Energy, which promotes nukes. People fighting companies destroying old-growth forests such as Weyerhaeuser would have more impact if they work with those fighting weapons manufacturers such as Boeing. These people could in turn join forces with those fighting domestic violence and youth violence in order to change our capital-hungry society to one based on human needs. Physicians and non-physicians would fulfill a larger mandate for social responsibility--we would all truly be physicians healing the earth.

Dr. Ruhland is in private practice in Seattle and Bellevue

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