The American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons supports an international ban on the manufacture, stockpiling, use, sale, transfer or export of antipersonnel land mines. Land mines pose a particularly harsh burden on society.
Mines inflict ravaging wounds, usually resulting in traumatic or surgical amputation.
They often cause severe secondary infections. Few available surgeons in the land mine-afflicted countries are trained in the repair and management of land mine injuries. Land mine amputees are often deemed valueless and burdensome within their societies. Many are abandoned and left destitute. In light of these circumstances, the American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons supports efforts to ban the manufacture, stockpiling, use, sale, transfer and export of antipersonnel land mines.