The original Japanese version of Godzilla was a reaction to the dangers of nuclear weapons. In particular it was a response to the H-bomb testing in the Bikini Island group. The destructive power of the H bombs dwarfed the Hiroshima and Nagasaki bombs. The radioactive fall-out spread over a far greater range and threatened to make large areas uninhabitable. A recent article in Slate makes the point that these same tests led to the "Ban the Bomb" movement of the fifties which grew to an environmental movement also opposed to the use of many chemicals. Rachel Carson, whose book "Silent Spring" led to the banning of the pesticide DDT, is quoted as saying, "[T]he parallel between radiation and chemicals is exact and inescapable."
