Persuasive Essay Example: Should Nuclear Weapons Be Banned?

Jack wakes up on a Saturday morning in Ukraine. Jack walks to the living room hoping to God that Russia does not nuke his city. He fears that his family and friends could all die in an instant. Everything he has ever known could be destroyed in a press of a button. This threat should never be an issue. Innocent people should not have to fear that their entire city will perish due to the actions of another country. To solve this problem, the production of nuclear weapons should be banned.

To begin with, nuclear weapons simply cause too much damage. Nuclear weapons are capable of destroying entire cities in seconds. The capability of annihilating entire cities is simply over the top. It is not necessary to destroy entire cities to win a war. Without nuclear weapons, countries will be forced to strategize attacks instead of simply destroying everything. Not only does the entire city become decimated, the surrounding cities can suffer radiation poisoning. The cities are inhabitable for years upon years. Nuclear weapons cause unnecessary damage to innocent people. 

Second of all, nuclear weapons kill and affect too many innocent people. A nuclear explosion would immediately kill everyone in a 2 mile circle. Outside of that radius, the other people would suffer severe burns. Not only would the people outside of the 2 mile radius suffer burns, they would also suffer radiation poisoning. Radiation poisoning would affect people far out of the 2 mile circle. Also, people up to 52 miles away from the explosion would suffer flash blindness. Nuclear weaponry simply is unnecessarily damaging. It is never necessary to negatively affect innocent people. In fact, it is a borderline war crime to do so. If nuclear weaponry is banned, power hungry countries could no longer devastate entire cities for no reason. 

Finally, the production of nuclear weaponry produces mass amounts of nuclear waste. Nuclear waste does not simply lose its radioactive properties. Nuclear waste will continue to be radioactive and dangerous for thousands of years. The idea of having radioactive material stored in giant metal drums in a warehouse simply sounds like a disaster waiting to happen. The nuclear waste drums can also leak occasionally. These leakages cause surrounding plant and animal life to pay a hefty price. The plants and animals can develop abnormal growths and even tumors. An example of this would be the Chernobyl disaster. Because of a reckless decision made by humans, 190,000 people were affected by the disaster. The vast majority of the people died, and the entirety of the animal population was devastated. The animals eventually developed horrible growths and cancers because of the leakage. If nuclear weaponry was banned, the threat of leakages would become obsolete. 

In conclusion, nuclear weaponry needs to be banned. If nuclear weaponry is banned, people like Jack would never have to worry about such a disaster ever happening. The ban of nuclear weapons would benefit the entire planet, not just America. The ban of nuclear weaponry is needed to create a safe planet to live on.