August 6 is a day of solemn remembrance of those who suffered and perished in one of the most horrific and genocidal war crimes ever committed; the dropping of the atomic bomb on the civilian population of Hiroshima in 1945, equal only to the atomic bombing Nagasaki three days later. At least 225,000 civilians were killed in the Hiroshima bombing. Hundreds of thousands died later of cancers, and thousands more inherited birth defects. The development and maintenance of nuclear weapons displaces indigenous people, pollutes air, water, and land, degrades the health of all life on the Earth. Today the biggest part of countries stopped nuclear explosions but laboratory experiments are still continued. |