The Wilmington morning star., 1947-05-25

on atomic energy, the |
tiles but withholding war secrets.
Thirty-three diseases are listed as
suitable weapons for biological war
fare. Some could be used IN concen-
trations to neutralize cities and huge
war production belts or they could be
aimed at specific targets like naval
bases O even troops in action.
scientists are as much frightened
as anyone else by the possibility of
misuse of science" said DR.. Maurice
Visscher, president of the American
Association of Scientific Workers, for
whom the report was originally pre-
pared in 1912.
Peace the Only Defense
t"The only real defense against bac-
terial warfare is peace" said DR..
Visscher, quoting George Merck, who
made a report on the subject to the
Secretary of Wal in 1916.
Because of its geographic isolation,
the United States is peculiarly vul-
nerable, DR.. Visscher declared.
In case of a bacterial attack on this
country by an enemy in Europe, he
said, the attackers own people would
be safe from the bacteria used and
retribution in kind by this country
would be difficult because of daNgar
to neutral countries.
Meanwhile in New York, Andrei A..
Gromyko, Soviet deputy foreign min
lister, warned the United States that
continuance of its monopoly" theory
of atomic development was an "lnu-
sion," since it was impossible to stop
the march of science.
Unless atomic weapons are out
lawed promptly by the United Ma
tons, Gromyko said, this country
might soon find itself in a less favor
able position in the atomic field.
New Atomic Weapon
American atomic scientists, like
those all over the world, were busy.
A Senate subcommittee on aviation
heard briefly last week about a new
atomic weapon-a radioactive cloud a
mile in diameter. Materials which
might go into atomic gas shells to
form such a cloud already are in pro-
duction at Oak Ridge, Tenn, for med
ical and scientific research purposes.
The prediction of a cloud a mile in
diameter hurting lethal rays is in line
with what the late President Roose-
welt was told in 1889 when he was
persuaded to undertake the atomic
bomb project.
The 40, 000-word report on bacterial
warfare vas compiled in 1912 from
studies which scientists had been
making quietly in eight countries
not including Germany. Nazi research
on bacterial weapons had disappeared
within the veil of censorship long be-
fore that time.
Lethal Germs
The report discounts such common
ly feared germ weapons as cholera,
smallpox, typhoid fever, bubonic
plague, leprosy and venereal disease
because of the availability of vaccines
or the difficulty in spreading the dis
ease.
The best weapons would be infec-
tons which people get by breathing.
These include tularemia, or rabbit
fever, not the common form but a
laboratory development that spreads
in air and use pneumonia; pneu-
monte plague which is the lung form
Of the plague Black Death, and
m~elioidosis, a fatal infection so rare
in nature that only 95 cases were re-
corded medically until a few years
ago.
During the last war, Japan made
use of prevailing westerly winds at
high attitudes to unleash on America
balloon-borne bombs. These aerial
currents might also make America
vulnerable to bacterial attack from
Asia without the use of planes.
DR.. VisScher said his association
made public the report, with War De-
partment permission, in an effort to
bring home to people of the world the
potentialities of bacterial warfare.
1.-The American public cannot be
Impressed too strongly with the ne
cessity of making arrangements to
preserve peace now," he said, "be-
cause 10 years from now it will be
too late"