I am a victim of nuclear testing. I have never been more afraid

"Decades after Semipalatinsk, the collapse of arms control leaves the world on the edge again. The nuclear danger today is greater than at any time since the Cold War. The world faces the prospect of a renewed arms race, this time unconstrained by the agreements that for decades kept catastrophe at bay. It is estimated that there are now 12,241 nuclear warheads worldwide."

"Arms control is unravelling before our eyes: Inspections under the New START treaty, the last remaining arms control agreement between the United States and Russia, remain suspended, and with its expiration in February 2026, there is no successor in sight. The Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty is gone, the Treaty on Open Skies has been abandoned, and the Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty has still not entered into force."

"Deep down, everyone knows nuclear weapons are a danger. We know their destructive power: Instant annihilation, radiation sickness, cancers, poisoned land, and generations of suffering. Yet the international community increasingly accepts the idea that nuclear weapons make countries safe. It is true that, at the level of geopolitics, they can provide a shield of deterrence. But on a global scale, they are a sword of Damocles hanging over all of humanity."

The collapse of arms-control frameworks has increased nuclear danger to levels not seen since the Cold War, with an estimated 12,241 nuclear warheads worldwide. Key treaties protecting against escalation have been suspended, abandoned, or failed to enter into force, and the last remaining U.S.-Russia agreement faces expiration without a successor. Geopolitical volatility compounds risk while reliance on nuclear weapons for deterrence masks their global existential threat. The destructive effects of nuclear detonations include instant annihilation, radiation sickness, cancers, environmental contamination, and multigenerational harm. Historical nuclear testing has caused long-term human and environmental suffering in affected regions.

Read at www.aljazeera.com