US Missile Defense is likely to start a new nuclear arms race between the US and Russia, as witnessed by recent developments including the US developing bases in Poland and the Czech Republic and Russia threatening to place missiles in Kaliningrad in response.

Sylvia's action also highlighted the destructive and devastating capacity of nuclear weapons; over 140,000 were killed in Hiroshima alone in 1945. Despite this, the UK and other countries continue to hold on to these weapons of mass destruction. The UK has 160 nuclear warheads. Each individual warhead is eight times as powerful as those used on Hiroshima and Nagasaki.

Hannah Tweddell, Yorkshire CND Development Worker, said "Sylvia was standing up against illegal and immoral weapons of mass destruction. It is not Sylvia who should be in prison over Christmas but those who ensure that these weapons of mass destruction are deployed 24 hours a day. We welcome the recent launch of the Global Zero campaign supported by a diverse group of people from Margret Beckett to Henry Kissinger and believe that we can drastically reduce the number of nuclear war-heads, working towards an end to nuclear weapons".