Of course yes, they person above me has stated right, It can lead to skin cancer and other serious effects on our heath.

All right, call me paranoid, but I've actually researched survival scenarios in case of nuclear attack. (I live about 2 hours from DC) Saying you are far enough from ground zero to survive the initial attack, you need to seek immediate shelter underground, preferably. If I remember correctly, about a foot of concrete will work too. You need iodine tablets. After about three days the radiation level outside will have dropped enough to allow short outings. After two weeks (i think) levels are within a liveable range. This all depends on the direction the fallout takes. And as far as it affecting food and water, the radiation levels fall with the surroundings. So if your food and water is in a bunker, or basement, underground, there'll be no ill effects. Of course, I just finished reading The Road, by Cormac McCarthy, and he puts forth an almost nuclear winter scenerio, where the attacks were so widespread that there is almost perpetual dusk. Nothing grows, no animals are alive, etc, etc. But I was very reassured when I really researched it. I had pretty much thought if nuclear war comes, it'd all be over. But the reality is, depending on the size bomb, as long as you're say 100 miles away from ground zero, not only will you not be killed immediately, you may have enough warning time to reach shelter. Then depending on the direction of the fallout, you could be clear in two weeks. I hope this helps!

Even if you survived the initial attack, the aftermath fo lingering radiation would probably cause problems.

I really don't know if I would want to survive something so devastating. The political implications of a nuclear attack might be insurmountable

From what I've read, though, the residual radiation after a couple of weeks, is tolerable. Iodine taken daily during those weeks prevents side effects from the radiation. I guess I'm hoping there won't be nuclear winter (several dozen bombs world-wide).

I agree with your point. If the country is using nuclear weapons it won't just use one or two nuclear weapons because they know the retaliation would be higher. That is the reason why they would launch nearly 50 nuclear bombs at a time in order to cripple the retaliation response. That is what I am fearing for and not just a single nuclear bomb.

After reading this again I ma beginning to think maybe I would rather perish than be alive after such an attack. What kind of world would be left to live in?