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AS WELL as causing local devastation, a regional nuclear war would lead to health problems all over the world.

Michael Mills at the University of Colorado, Boulder, and colleagues calculated the impact of 100 Hiroshima-sized bombs – comparable to India and Pakistan’s combined arsenal – in a hypothetical war in south Asia. The bombs would deplete up to 40 per cent of the ozone layer in the mid-latitudes and up to 70 per cent in the high northern latitudes. The resulting increase in UV radiation would cause a tripling of conditions such as skin cancer and cataracts worldwide (Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, ).

Mills says the main culprit would be up to 5 million tonnes of soot from fires, which would catalyse the breakdown of ozone.

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