horror and tragedy of nuclear war would be visited on the populations
subject to direct attack, who would doubtless have to cope with extreme and
perhaps insuperable obstacles in seeking to reestablish their own
societies. It is no less apparent, however, that other nations, including
those remote from the combat, could suffer heavily because of damage to the
global environment.

Finally, at least brief mention should be made of the global effects
resulting from disruption of economic activities and communications. Since
1970, an increasing fraction of the human race has been losing the battle
for self-sufficiency in food, and must rely on heavy imports. A major
disruption of agriculture and transportation in the grain-exporting and
manufacturing countries could thus prove disastrous to countries importing
food, farm machinery, and fertilizers--especially those which are already
struggling with the threat of widespread starvation. Moreover, virtually
every economic area, from food and medicines to fuel and growth engendering
industries, the less-developed countries would find they could not rely on
the "undamaged" remainder of the developed world for trade essentials: in
the wake of a nuclear war the industrial powers directly involved would
themselves have to compete for resources with those countries that today
are described as "less-developed."

Similarly, the disruption of international communications--satellites,
cables, and even high frequency radio links--could be a major obstacle to
international recovery efforts.

In attempting to project the after-effects of a major nuclear war, we have
considered separately the various kinds of damage that could occur. It is
also quite possible, however, that interactions might take place among
these effects, so that one type of damage would couple with another to