This disassociation with particular scenarios was sought to avoid being limited by the current uncertainties of the physical estimates.

Thus, the biological analyses were not linked to any specific nuclear war scenario or to any single specific projection of alterations in the physical environment. This conclusion is derived from considerations of the vulnerabilities of ecological and agricultural systems to the types of disturbances potentially associated with the occurrence of a large-scale nuclear war. Whereas the direct effects of such a nuclear war could result in several hundred million human fatalities, according to several studies (e.g., Bergstrom et al., 1983 Ambio, 1982), the indirect effects could lead to the loss of one to four billion lives. The consensus that developed was stark: the indirect effects of a large-scale nuclear war would probably be far more consequential than the direct effects and the primary mechanism for human fatalities would likely not be from blast effects, not from thermal radiation bums, and not from ionizing radiation, but, rather, from mass starvation. The focus was on human population impacts mediated by disruptions in ecological, agricultural, and other life-support systems. From these data and models, developed for reasons far removed from considerations of nuclear war, we synthesized a portrait of the global world after nuclear war (Harwell and Hutchinson, 1985). We on the biological side did not have the luxury of existing funded laboratory and modeling research projects on the consequences of nuclear war instead, our mission was to inspect the current information, models, and understanding of how biological systems respond to stress.

From this emerged the characterization of the projected nuclear war-induced disturbances in the global atmosphere, with specified uncertainties and research needs (Pittock et al., 1985). The atmospheric scientists convened in a series of workshops, taking stock of their ongoing research and identifying the next issues to be examined with their computer models. Over a 2-year period, the Scientific Committee on Problems of the Environment (SCOPE)-Environmental Effects of Nuclear War (ENUWAR) project involved the participation of about 100 physical and atmospheric scientists and an additional 200 agricultural and ecological scientists from more than 30 countries around the world in a unique undertaking to assess the global consequences of nuclear war.

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