Deadline: March 11, 2007 INTRODUCTION: On March 14th, British Parliament will be voting on whether or not to renew its Trident Nuclear program. This petition has been created to urge members of Parliament to vote against Trident replacement for the following reasons: * Trident renewal is against international law: The modernization of nuclear warheads and submarines, for whatever reason, goes against the disarmament obligations to which the UK and the other nuclear weapon states have committed themselves as parties to the Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT). Renewing such a program violates both Article VI of the NPT and Chapter 1, Article 2, paragraph 4 of the UN Charter (see petition below). * Trident renewal makes the world and the UK less - not more - secure: Nuclear deterrence is not and has never been an effective insurance policy, but rather raises the threat of nuclear war and accidents caused by renegade military personnel, computer error, hacker attack, or nuclear terrorists. * Trident renewal encourages global nuclear proliferation: Renewing Trident rather than dismantling the program sends the wrong message to militarily less powerful countries. In the words of Nobel Laureate Professor Sir Joseph Rotblat, "If some nations - including the most powerful militarily - say that they need nuclear weapons for their security, then such security cannot be denied to other countries which really feel insecure. Proliferation of nuclear weapons is the logical consequence of this nuclear policy." * Trident renewal encourages UK reliance on the US: Replacement of the Trident program increases UK dependence on the US, binding the UK to American strategies of nuclear pre-emption. * Trident renewal means a massive waste of monetary resources: 25-75 billion pounds are proposed to be spent on Trident replacement although the current Trident system will last until 2024. Assuming these weapons will only be used as a deterrent, this is a massive waste of money that could alternatively be spent on a variety of programs promoting social welfare. PETITION: We, the undersigned members of Student Physicians for Social Responsibility and International Physicians for the Prevention of Nuclear War, oppose a renewal of the Trident Nuclear Program. Such an action directly constitutes a breach of Article VI of the Non-Proliferation Treaty: \"Each of the Parties to the Treaty undertakes to pursue negotiations in good faith on effective measures relating to cessation of the nuclear arms race at an early date and to nuclear disarmament, and on a Treaty on general and complete disarmament under strict and effective international control.\" This action also violates Chapter 1, Article 2, paragraph 4 of the UN Charter: \"All Members shall refrain in their international relations from the threat or use of force against the territorial integrity or political independence of any state, or in any other manner inconsistent with the Purposes of the United Nations.\" The only safe, humanistic alternative is to dismantle Trident, and to vote against replacement.

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