Story highlights Ira Helfand says a Trump presidency makes it clear the fate of the planet shouldn't be in the hands of one person

He says legislation limiting use of nuclear weapons and a treaty to ban them are both needed

Dr. Ira Helfand is a past president of Physicians for Social Responsibility and currently serves as the co-president of PSR's global federation, the International Physicians for the Prevention of Nuclear War, which was awarded the Nobel Prize in 1985. The opinions expressed in this commentary are his.

(CNN) Shortly before noon on Friday a military aide will enter the Capitol with President Obama carrying a leather-covered aluminum briefcase with the information and equipment needed to launch nuclear war. Precisely at noon, control of that briefcase will pass to a man who has been described by scores of security experts in his own party as lacking the judgment, temperament and knowledge to command nuclear weapons.

Ira Helfand

Once this transfer takes place, the new President will have the ability to launch nuclear war on his own and there is no legal constraint on his ability to do this. During the campaign, many argued that once the election was over, the President-elect would emerge as a more mature and reasonable man. Instead, the Twitter wars have continued, and he has boasted about refusing to attend his national security briefings.

Have we absorbed yet the full meaning of Donald Trump's finger on the nuclear button?

For decades US nuclear policy has been based on the idea that it is essential for our national security to keep nuclear weapons out of "the wrong hands," that we needed to do whatever we could to keep terrorists and rogue nations from acquiring these weapons. At the same time American policymakers insisted it was acceptable, even beneficial, for the current nuclear powers to maintain their nuclear arsenals, because their leaders were wise and responsible enough to manage these weapons.

Many in the medical and scientific community have long challenged this idea. Nuclear weapons are so dangerous, we have argued, and the likelihood they will be used so great, that no human being, no matter how smart and reasonable, should be trusted with them. No one should ever have the power to destroy the world. When it comes to nuclear weapons, there are no "right hands."

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