P.S. Why not ask the Arms Control and Disarmament Agency to prepare a

DEPARTMENT OF GENETICS

resume of U.S. and international intiastives for BW control? (I would be

f

* LE 7 fav.
Prof. J. Lederberg adage ya d ibe 7/2/62

:

)

T
.

delighted to see this myself

STANFORD UNIVERSITY SCHOOL OF MEDICINE
STANFORD MEDICAL CENTER
PALO ALTO, CALIFORNIA 94304

a
fences 7 eee a 4/7 Area Code 415

3-1-1200

Maal Oa Ae /Esprenber 2, 1968

Dear Senator Mondale:

win I was most pleased to receive your letter of August 21, respon-
ding to some of the concerns I have expressed about biological warfare.
May I begin with the remark that I plan to use the published hearings
on your bill S. J. Res. 145 as the textbook for a course on biology and
human affairs that I will be teaching again this fall.

Dr. Matthew Meselson of Harvard is the mos¢ knowledgeable source to
whom I could refer you -- but I will call himself and I am sure he will
respond directly. I am enclosing a fair bit of material, some of which
I had received originally from him, and I know he could bring it up to
date. I would also refer you-to Hersh's very recent book, from which I
have copied and enclose the chpater on proposals for international control.
His writing is unduly hysterical about the so-called “establishment” that
has been built about CBW. There ism as far as I can see an honest difference
of opinion how the country should respond to the threat of CBW by our ad-
versaries. But the worst of it is the inertia shown by the administration
in recognizing the problem as a world-issue that far outweighs its possible
strategic significance. My own concern is not at all for the possible use
of BW by the US or the USSR, but our opening the door to a proliferation of
irresponsible experiments by smaller powers.

May I also stress (as, unfortnnately, Meselson and Hersh have not done)
the distinctions between chemical and biological warfare, from this paint of
view. As far as I can see, CW introduces no fundamental novelties into the
existing horrors of war; nevertheless, I do respect the argument that the
very proliferation of new tools capable of fitting a wider variety of tactical
challenges does increase the zemipta temptation tp use them. (For example,
our purported capacity to conduct efficient counter—insurgency undpubtedly
played a central role in getting us into the Vietnamese mess.) But this should

not cloud the issue raised by the species-hazard of BW.

LT. J. P. KENNEDY, JR. LABORATORIES FOR MOLECULAR MEDICINE, DEDICATED TO RESEARCH IN MENTAL RETARDATION

MOLECULAR BIOLOGY HEREDITY NEUROBIOLOGY we, 7 oa MEDICINE
Dian ce

desc ate tb te, Bar |

W

91 Nn