AU oO BUY

materials into the etmosphere, despite the most carcful precautions,

We have experienced many examples of minor release of toxic -

in nuckear test experiments. The Skull Valley incident wes a clear
warning about similar accidents in field tests of chemical warfare
agents. r+ showed how the security blanket prevents the critical
forethought about unexpected hazards to the public; it #lso illus-
trated how far e security-bound activity must go in covcring up its
mistakes after they kugex happen, again wee eeu ems the full use of
informed professional judgment in protecting the public.

when we consider biological warfare egents, ve mist remember that

. : . ps agents ,.
no release is a minor one. The charactenis&tic of th:ese NES EORE is

ublcnovingly

thet they propagate, so that a single particle tovged inhaled by a
sihgle person, hundreds of miles from the point of release could start
a devastating epidemic, whose original source might never be provable.
FaSeetreus agents can also infect wild animols, with » long chain of
infection in them and in their parasites, before icon is involved. As
dormant spores, these agents can persist for yeors, perhaps even cen-
turies, before being unwittingly revived and infecting man. Every open
field test of 2 human pathogen is a globsl «experiment; those who would

conduct such experiments must answer to mankindé for the consequences.

Joshua Ledecberg

fo Sevaipr Meloon.