The Scientific Advisory Group for the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons and Its Statement on the 80th Anniversary of the Nuclear Weapon Era

In 2022, the first Meeting of States Parties of the United Nations Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons (TPNW) agreed to establish a Scientific Advisory Group. This commentary by the co-chairs of the Scientific Advisory Group introduces the treaty and the establishment, mandate, and activities of the Group, notes some of its key recommendations and its work to build a broader TPNW Scientific Network. The commentary includes the Group’s most recent public action: a statement to mark the 80th anniversary of the first production, test, use, and threat of use of nuclear weapons. In this statement, the Group connected these events to the core prohibitions of the TPNW, recalled a tradition of efforts by scientists to warn of nuclear weapons dangers and called for scientists to take individual and collective action to end the nuclear weapons era.