N / S: That is right.

ADV: Then allow me to call it the suicidal experimentation and not simply the experiment of science, this adoption of atomic energy.

N / S: No. That is not that. Optimism is the rule of the scientist. We hope for the best.

ADV: There are exceptions everywhere in the world, and this case of the atomic energy may well be taken as exception in the realm of science. Your optimism in the case of nuclear science may be called the optimism of improbability, indeed a folly.

N / S: The nuclear scientist is a scientist and not a philosopher.

ADV: Our demand from you is not of philosophy but of science. We request you to assume scientific attitude. Nor the philosophy is the name of wishful or whimsical dreaming only. The philosopher has to assume the scientific mode of thinking. Your unscientific optimism will damn this world surely.

N / S: Let us proceed with the actual topic.

ADV: You have prescribed a permissible dose of radiation.

N / S: Yes.

ADV: Are you sure about the correctness of that amount?

N / S: No. There is no certainty about the correctness of the dose.

ADV: Is there any danger if the amount prescribed is not correct?

N / S: Yes in case the amount prescribed is in excess of the actual tolerable amount, then considerable damage to health and life of mankind could be anticipated.

ADV: Do you still insist on the adoption of the atomic-energy-for-peace?

N / S: Yes. I think I do. Continuous experimentation is the rule of science, and this we will carry on.

ADV: In spite of the exceptional situation of atomic energy?

N / S: Yes, of course, we are bound. The rule is the rule.

ADV: Have you ever imagined the state of the future world of full-fledged atomic energy with thousands of reactors, and the earth covered with the net of radiations, and converted into an asylum?

N / S: As far as the imagination is concerned; I certainly can view the future state of the world with its full-fledged atomic energy. Yet to reach to that state, experimenting continually is our business. The affair will be dealt with in a practical, matter of fact manner.

ADV: Have you ever thought of the miseries, sufferings, afflictions, diseases which will have their origin in the atomic energy. Have you ever shuddered over that, or have you ever shed a tear over that state, or have you ever thought of your share in all that as the discoverer and the promotor of the atomic energy. All the benefits and boons of science and the scientist will then be swallowed by the miseries created by science and the scientist.

N / S: By that time some discovery might have been made to solve the problems.

ADV: The discovery already is there that can within moments solve all the problems of mankind.

N / S: What’s that?

ADV: The nuclear bomb.

N / S: That is up to men not to apply that method.

ADV: How the radioactive residue of the atomic plants is faring?

N / S :Oh. That is pretty nuisance. Do what we may with it, bury inland, bury beneath the sea, bury anywhere, it certainly will show its nefarious effects.

ADV: That is good example for you to take a lesson from.

N / S: Necessity over-rules the lessons and blurs every sentiment.

ADV: You have confessed complete helplessness in the case of radioactive residue and you have no safe place on earth for dumping that irresistible and insurgent stuff, and you are obliged to carry that to the moon but a moony could dream of doing that, and the poor earth it is and its inhabitants that will have to suffer from that obnoxious issue. You have confessed your complete helplessness in providing protection to the neighbouring millions of atomic reactors. And you have confessed your helplessness in detecting the mutated genes or destroying them, or doing anything after they have begun to manifest their existence in the form of abnormal births. Now pray tell us your position in the case of somatic effects that is the bodily effects of radiation.

N/S :Excepting cancer which we can destroy with radiation, and that does not mean cure, we are absolutely helpless in the case of radiation sickness, or the blindness which is produced by certain radiations. No sure cure for radiation sickness has as yet been discovered, nor any such cure is in sight. Nothing can be done to avoid or to cure the injury caused by radiation. When the cell has once been attacked by radiation, whether the cell is killed or mutilated or whether it survives, is a question of its own ability and the lethal efficacy of the radiation. Man is helpless in the conflict and has no power to affect the response of the cell to radiation. No therapeutic measure hitherto has been of any avail in case of radiation sickness. As far as cancer is concerned, we can destroy its cells by radiation, but cannot cure it in the proper sense of the word: cure. But the crux of the matter is that radiation is a double edged sword. It can destroy cancer as well as create cancer.

ADV: A strange summary indeed and a strange conclusion. Radiation inherent in the nature of the atomic energy, and capable of bringing untold miseries to the world and rendering all life on earth extinct after a spell of miserable existence. The control of men over it next only to nothing. The leakage as well as the explosion of the atomic energy reactor being a possibility and the consequent flooding of the neighbouring districts containing millions of people with deadly radiation  a certainty , and the arrangements for the protection of the unfortunate neighbours of the exploded reactor against the radiation nil. Radiation sickness is the sure result of the exposure to radiation, and any sure cure for radiation sickness unavailable, nor any sign of any discovery of such a cure in sight. Radiation mutating the genes with dire consequences to future generations of man, animals, and plants, and no means at all either to detect the mutated genes, or to destroy them. The mutated genes to make their existence manifest in some future generation in the form of abnormal births, and nothing there to prevent or to cure the malady. Species to be changed due to the mutated genes into miserable chimeras on their way to extinction and no control of man over the situation, and nothing to do but to suffer and perish. The danger of the atomic war associated with the presence of atomic-energy-for-peace and the scientist content with merely avoiding the mention of the atomic weapons as a sign of inherent disgust with the subject. Judging the nuclear scientist as a man of sense and one endued with the sense of great responsibility he bears, to what his complacent and over-optimistic attitude towards atomic energy be attributed other than the darkness impressed upon the eye by the impelling influence of the three causes of the appearance of the atomic hell pointed out by the Holy Scripture, that now compel the mankind towards the grievous doom of atomic bombs and the atomic radiation.

N/S: The nuclear scientist is obliged by the rules of research and experimentation to continue and to carry on the experiment to its scientific end. If the fears that you have entertained and expressed in the discussion be treated by the scientists in the same manner as you have done, then all research and experimentation and consequently the progress would come to an end, and there you can see the results of such an attitude on the part of the scientist. Optimism has to be our rule. It is simply impossible for us to think otherwise. If the scientists suffer in the course of a research and experimentation, they take it in the spirit of sacrifice for mankind. The sailor cannot abandon the ship to the storm.

ADV: Alas then, it appears that you will give no attention to the proposition of taking the atomic energy as an exceptional case.

N / S: The methodology of experimentation in the realm of science entertains no such idea as the exception of anything. All the universe is controlled by the same laws and everything has to be taken on the same level.

ADV: This then is the example of compound ignorance and hence incurable. The subject of nuclear science has done damage to the cells of  thought in human brain, and the damage which the nuclear science has done to the cells of human brain appears irreparable and irreversible as is the case of the damage done to the genes by the atomic radiation.

N / S: This is philosophy and the scientist is not at all concerned with philosophy. Experimentation, practical, material experimentation is our business and anyone who has conversation with the scientist ought as a rule to keep to the scientific side of the problem and must not diverge onto the philosophical implications.

ADV: Only if the nuclear radiations too would be convinced by your argument and leave off their habit of stinging the people with deadly rays. Let us, however, revert to science. Has any key discovery, hitherto been made in radiobiology?

N / S: Clues are there, indeed numerous, but the key discoveries have yet to be made.

ADV: It sounds strange, when seen against your recommendation of the use of the atomic energy in which radiation is as an inherent factor and indeed very deadly one. But tell us, if anything is known as yet of the details of the fine structure of the nucleus of the cell in the resting stage?

N / S: Nothing as yet.

ADV: Is the division of function between cytoplasm and nucleus clear cut?

N / S: No. It is not, and there is considerable evidence for the presence of some genetic factors in the cytoplasm while a considerable amount of synthesis of structural material also occurs in the nucleus.

ADV: Which of the two current hypotheses about the chromosome breaks is correct?

N / S: None, and a theory will have to be evolved which incorporates the features of both.

ADV: Is the nature of the injury which holds up the normal cell cycle for a time known?

N / S: No.

ADV: Is the mechanism by which Enzymes can cause specific chemical reaction to take place understood?

N / S: No.

ADV: Have the chemists understood the reaction that takes place in the synthesis of protection from amino acids?

N / S: No. It has so far defied the ingenuity of the chemists.

ADV: Has any convincing reason been put forward to explain why there are tremendous variations between different cells in their response to radiations?

N / S: No. None.

ADV: Is it possible then to base radio-therapy of cancer or methods of protection against radiation on a reliable foundation?

N / S :No. It is not possible. It is a measure of difficulty and complexity of the subject that not even a tentative answer can be given to the question. The key problem of cancer research is : What stimuli cause a cell to stop dividing when an organ reaches a correct size, and to repair damage after injury?

ADV: Is the mechanism by which radiation eradicates the tumours quite simple?

N / S: No. It is extremely complex.

ADV :Is the way in which tumour cells are killed or sterilized fully understood?

N / S: No.

ADV: Can as yet all the stages between the passage of radiation through the irradiated organs and the final injury be followed?

N / S: No.

ADV: Is it easy to predict the course and outcome of radiation treatment?

N / S: No. It is difficult.

ADV: The most obvious effect of radiation on cell is death, yet is it easy to define even this drastic change for the individual cell?

N / S: No. It is far from easy.

ADV: Can any complete explanation be given for the paradox that although the pathological changes from whole body irradiation are diffused and ill-defined, yet death occurs with remarkable regularity?

N / S: No. This is a sort of a mystery which of all the various kinds of poisons is a peculiarly distinctive characteristic of atomic radiation.

ADV: Well, this may be taken as an argument for the encompassing trait of atomic energy, but can the symptoms of acute radiation sickness tell anything about the cause of death?

N / S: The symptoms of acute radiation sickness can be summarized but they tell us little about the cause of death. If a pathologist carries out a postmortem examination on a mammal which has succumbed after a radiation dose of a few hundred roentgens, he would find it very difficult to pinpoint death to failure of a particular organ.

ADV: Has any treatment yet been found which applied after irradiation can reduce the number of  mutations ? Is recovery possible from mutation?

N / S: No. No treatment has yet been found which applied sometime after irradiation, can reduce the number of mutations since no recovery is possible from mutation, no post irradiation treatment would be expected to restore a mutation. Even that little which has been discovered to be of some effect before irradiation can be considered of little practical use due to the insidious nature of radiation.

ADV: Has any treatment been found for radiation sickness? Or is there any sign at present of such a discovery?

N / S :None.

ADV: Has anything been found to detect, or destroy the mutated gene?

N / S :No. Nothing.

ADV: Has any real cure been found for cancer?

N/S :No real cure for cancer. Only the cancer cells are destroyed by radiation.

ADV: Can the chemicals protect against the long-term effects of radiation?

N/S: No answer can be given to the question, whether chemical can protect against the long-term effects of radiation. Technical difficulties make it extremely hard to measure accurately the mutations produced in mammals.

ADV: How is it that a dose of radiation sufficient to kill or visibly injure a cell represents such a minute amount of energy that it could only affect a very few molecules, a change totally insufficient to bring about the pronounced biological effects directly?

N / S: It is not known, and it in fact is a challenge to the scientists.

ADV: Has any effective substance against radiation effect has been found?

N/S: It is both a disappointment and surprise that no effective substance against radiation effect has been found.

ADV: Would to God, that your sentiment of astonishment and surprise in so important a matter touch your faculty of thought regarding your attitude in case of the recommendation of the use of the atomic energy and cause you to pause and think of your recommendation before finding answers to all such questions, and find enough patience to wait till full control over the subject of nuclear science has been achieved. This dialogue that has gone between you and me has shown the poverty of man’s knowledge of the subject of radiobiology at present. Though I am not unaware of the sufficiency of the available knowledge of this subject. It indeed is great and is the result of admirable exertions of the concerned scientists who have toiled and laboured day in day out, and their painstakings have been mingled with great ingenuity and appreciable intelligence. Great geniuses all. Judging from the extreme difficulty and complexity of the subject of their findings deserve real admiration , and are sufficient  to recommend a stoppage of the adoption of atomic energy till further discoveries that ensured safety from radiation effects are made. The nature of the subject is such that they have to go a long way as yet before issuing recommendations of the adoption of the atomic energy. Their hasty conclusions are sure to subject the world to ruin. What urgently is desired is the realization of the fact that the margin now left is too short to allow a long-term investigation. Instantaneous recoil from the brim of atomic hell is that which is expedient.

And now my Lord Science! I bring my cross examination of the nuclear scientist to its end. Surely in the light of that which has passed between us, the reality which has come to light without any doubt, is that the recommendation of the adoption of atomic energy before achieving full control on the subject, and providing safeguards against the effects of radiation means to throw this world right into the blazing hell of atomic energy without any protection. The decision of recommendation on the part of anyone is erroneous, hasty, unjustifiable and ruinous, and therefore is liable to impeachment, conviction and sentence. The knowledge of the nuclear scientist in the field of nuclear science is as yet too meager, his control on the nuclear phenomena too little, and the subject of the atomic energy is one that is fraught with dangers, hazard and implications of so unusual and so unknown a kind, that only if the mankind in general could realize the true picture thereof, and could have but a glimpse of the disasters, catastrophes, destructions, diseases, miseries, sufferings, untold and unknown, unusual and unique, this mankind would run off with hysterical  shrieks, Germans before English, English before Americans, Americans before French, French before Italians, Italians before Yugoslavs, running and cursing, cursing and running and reprobating and damning the atomic energy as well as its makers, under terrifying guffaws of the ghost of the Hiroshimians and Nagasakians. My Lord Science , it is thus by adopting the atomic-energy-for-peace without first having the full control over the natural force involved , and particularly the atomic energy, that the general rule of the methodology of science that science could be used for construction as well as destruction is being thrown into jeopardy, for, the result of this hasty adoption of the atomic energy is going to be nothing but destruction, the initial construction being swallowed by the subsequent damages to final ruin. This attitude of the nuclear scientist therefore could well be marked as a gross violation of the established rules and regulations of science whose allegiance he hitherto has claimed to have professed with all his heart.

My Lord Science! The nuclear scientist has more than once asserted his sense of optimism and has always declared it as a necessary element in the course of scientific research and experimentation. The reason for his optimism appears to be in the fact that this present generation unless involved in atomic warfare, would pass away without suffering the damage of the radiation and enjoying only its fruits. A cancer-ridden community of nuclear scientists would perhaps renounce such optimism. It is a lamentable fact that a generation would leave so much debt of genetic load, a debt that is to be paid by their own posterity, their own blood and their own kin. And lastly, your Lordship is requested to give a decree that let the practice of adoption of atomic energy for practical purposes cease forthwith at pain of death, and let not the adoption of atomic energy be undertaken until full control of the subject has been achieved, until every single individual human being, animal and plant is afforded full and complete protection against radiation. Anyone violating this edict should be charged with the murder of humanity and every living thing on earth and the plants. If , then it is found impossible to comply with the conditions set above , then let the case of the atomic energy be dropped from the book of science for ever , for ever for the sake of humanity.

SCIENCE GIVES THE DECISION

The Lord Justice Science rises to give judgment and thus prevails. The Lord Justice Science then reads his decision as follows:-

“The ability of the counsel, and the honesty and the ability of the nuclear scientist have saved this court a lot of bickering and haranguing. The case has been conducted in a most amiable and genial atmosphere. We have a reason to express our satisfaction at the honest and complacent attitude of our votary the scientist. As far as the case is concerned, it is clear, and so is the decision of this court. Let the practice of the adoption of the atomic energy for practical purposes cease forthwith at the express command of this court. Let the nuclear scientist resort to the laboratory for experimentation. Utility-cum-experimentation method of nuclear scientist cannot be allowed in the case of nuclear energy. Mankind cannot be allowed to be made as the accessories of the nuclear experiment, as guinea pigs, for, the result of the nuclear experiment might prove dire and the losses irreparable and damages irreversible. Let all the stock piles of the atomic weapons be destroyed forthwith and let no true scientist cooperate in the making of deadly monsters used for no other purpose than the destruction of the life and property acquired after such toil and labor, and so highly prized by its owners. The proposition of abandoning the plan of atomic energy for ever is also not out of question. If the scientist at any stage thinks the plan as unfeasible, let him declare it so, and sooner the better due to the particular hazardous nature of atomic energy. Radiation due to its long-term genetic effects is the dread fullest thing worth avoiding.

“ Woe to every backbiter , defamer , who amasseth  wealth  ( of this world )   and  arrangeth  it  (against  the  future ). He thinketh that his wealth shall render him immortal. Nay, for verily he will be cast into AL-HOTAMA. And what could teach thee what   AL-HOTAMA is? It  is  fire  of  Allah  enkindled  ,  which  leapeth  up  onto  the  hearts.  It  is  ( a fire )  closed  in  on   them  in  outstretched  columns ”. (Quran - CIV - Al -Hotama )

Desirable reaction of the scientist to the decision of science

Now let the top scientists of the world call a conference and there declare in the clearest of terms the following to the entire world :-

“We, the scientists of the world declare to mankind that, we had been the victims of grievous misunderstandings. We now fully understand the nature of our nuclear experiment. We solemnly confess that we have done the greatest wrong to humanity in our blind zeal and ill-applied enthusiasm. And now let this be known that to provide all the millions with means of protection against radiation is in no way feasible and certainly all the millions are in danger of ill-effects of radiations, particularly in the case of expanding atomic energy. It is not even in the power of the most industrialized countries to cope with the problems of radiation. As far as the genetic effects of radiations are concerned, man is completely helpless while such effects constitute great hazards that can destroy all life on earth after a span of untold miseries. And as far as the control on atomic radiation is concerned, it has to be treated as impossible. The reactions of nuclear energy as the name implies are localized in nuclear regions, the regions that are too minute and too remote from any easy control of man. At present it appears not very possible that man will ever be able to have full control or full knowledge of nuclear reactions of atomic energy. And until this is achieved, it is naturally impossible that either any means or methods of protection against the atomic radiations will be found, or any sure cures for radiation sickness etc will be discovered. Due to these difficulties and indeed  innumerable others already existing and swiftly increasing, we most solemnly and indeed honestly declare the atomic energy programme of entire world as dropped and banished and sealed forever as impossibility and as only the means of destruction without any attempt on ever reviving it anywhere. This has to be treated as a will, to be respected by the posterity that may any time be tempted to resume it under the pressure of economic or industrial necessities. We, scientists, have at this very moment  our hands off the atomic energy. Any scientist disobeying this decision will be severely treated and the Governments of the Common wealth of Nations are requested to issue instantaneous and strongest edicts forbidding the adoption of atomic energy for any purpose whatsoever. Let the scientist community try to wipe off the blood of humanity from their hands before they begin to appear as an abomination in the sight of a mankind caught in inspeakable miseries brought about by the discoveries of the scientists, and let the scientists now cease to act as the instruments of the ambitious but ignorant and unjust people in the world. The same or nearly the same would have been expected from the great atomists that have died and left this world. A very little margin is now left and let the opportunity be availed in full before the die is cast. At most a scientist may be allowed to carry on his nuclear experimentation in a laboratory, and not beyond that. But there is no hope of any good results. It is now fully known without any doubt that the atomic radiations will never accept the control of man, nor will man be ever able to provide the means of protection against radiation to every individual human, animal, plant in the world. It is ruinous to ignore both short-term and long-term effects of radiation, the genetic effects in particular".