PORTLAND (AP) – Anti-nuclear activist Helen Caldicott warned of a continuing global threat posed by U.S. and Russian nuclear stockpiles during a speech sponsored by peace groups.

Caldicott said Saturday the former Cold War rivals still have thousands of nuclear weapons aimed at each other, and a single mistake could result in mutual annihilation.

“Anything that happens in the world that triggers anxiety could blow us all off the face of the Earth,” Caldicott said. “No one knows about it now. In the eighties, people were scared out of their brains.”

The 65-year-old Australian activist and author’s speech dealt mostly with problems of command and control, especially inside Russia’s aging nuclear program.

Failures, she said, could lead to a mistaken belief that the country is under attack, prompting a quick-trigger decision to launch a retaliatory strike.

Caldicott, who now lives in Washington, D.C. and was nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize in 1985, spoke at a three-day conference on the militarization of space at Woodfords Congregational Church. Conference sponsors included Maine Veterans for Peace and Peace Action Maine.

AP-ES-04-25-04 1112EDT