This Week: Seeking Answers for Iran’s Chemical Weapons Survivors

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An Iranian soldier wearing a gas mask during the Iran-Iraq War. In the waning days of the war, Iraq resorted more frequently to bombarding soldiers and civilians with sulfur mustard and nerve agents. Image licensed under CC BY-SA 3.0.

Learning from Chemical War

Richard Stone

During the 1980-1988 Iran-Iraq conflict, Iraqi forces pummeled Iranians with some of the world’s deadliest chemical agents. The onslaught killed nearly 5,000 Iranians and sickened more than 100,000. Today, roughly 56,000 surviving victims still cope with lingering effects from mustard gas alone, including skin lesions, failing corneas, chronic obstructive lung disease, and possibly cancer. Richard Stone, reporting from Iran for Science Magazine, speaks to scientists about what is being learned from the victims.

Testing Taboos in China

Ian Johnson

Is it possible to maintain artistic integrity inside the Chinese Communist system? Ian Johnson, writing for The New York Review of Books, talks to Qiu Zhijie, one of China’s most influential artists, about working within an ideology of constraints.

A woman waits with a child behind a statue in the Santa Barbara Catholic Church office in Dededo. Image by Cory Lum. Guam, 2017.

Abused by Priests in Guam

Anita Hofschneider

More than 100 people are suing Guam’s Catholic Church, saying they were sexually abused by priests. Anita Hofschneider reports for the podcast Offshore on why it has taken so long for Guam to address the abuse, and on how the community is responding.

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