Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1952-04-06
CernnWur.
Big Communist Lie
Worries the West
By EorI n. Voss

By EorI n. Voss
Communists from Pyongyang to
East Berlin have been pulling out all
the stops on their huge propaganda
organ for more than a month now,
trying to pin germ warfare on the
United Nations forces in Korea. And
the West is more than little
worried despite the fact that the
story Is a palpable lie, remembering
as all people do DR.. Goebbels' dictum
that big lie, told often enough, is
accepted as fact.
BY now, OF course, fiction is an
instrument of Soviet strategy we'll
known outside the Iron Curtain. A
recent Associated Press survey shows
that nobody with access to a reason
able facsimile of the truth puts much
stock in the Communist charges that
the U. N. is dropping germ-laden
bugs on Korea and China.
Nevertheless, in the face of an
almost solid wall of Western disbelief.
the whole Communist world continues
to beat up such a din as has seldom
been heard even from Kremlin
propagandistS. Why?
Whot's Behind 1t?
Three motives have been attributed
to the Red campaign: % The Com
munistS are merely trying to explain
away an epidemic their own medical
men cannot cope with; 90 they are
building the fiction as a bargaining
point in the u. N. Disarmament Com
mission: 80 they are setting the stage
for a germ attack of their own, and
laying the groundwork in the time
honored Communist fashion of &C
cusing the adversary of the atrocity
they themselves are planning to
commit.
Undoubtedly the first two motives
have played a part in the campaign.
But the charges also would serve to
build an excellent case for Soviet
retaliation" in the biological warfare
fleld-now or at some future time.
Defense officials in Washington have
no comment on their attitude toward
the Red propaganda drive. They
point out that they have always been
alert for any enemy move in this
field and continue to be so.
What sort of a defense does the
United States have against germ
warfare. in case the Reds are building
up to biological attack?
On the battlefields of Korea, of
course. medical units are constantly
on the alert for any epidemics, arti-
f1cially introduced or not. Under
present conditions, with a plague
epidemic reported in North Korea,
United Nations medical units are
bearing down on sanitary measures
to guard against spread of plague
and any other diseases South Ko-
reans are being inoculated against
cholera, typhus. smallpox and other
diseases which may be prevalent in
the north.
Alert at Home
On the home front, civil defense
officials and the United States Public
Health Service already have an intel
ligence network designed to detect
germ attacks. This setup is nothing
new. It has been in operation for
many years, to protect the population
against natures own biological war
fare attacks, epidemics which simply
grow like Topsy.
But with the danger of a more
deadly attack, artif1cially introduced
by potential enemy of the United
States, the lookout is being increased,
and methods of dealing with cpl
denies are being sharpened up.
The family doctors probably would
be the first to warn the country in
case of attack. They would be the
first to be called in by sufferers. These
men have been alerted to the danger
and are working now as part of the
defense network which the United
States Government has developed.
Reporting System
In case of an epidemic, their re-
ports would go to city, State and
regional health Offices. and also
to strategically placed laboratories.
Some 40 to so of these laboratories,
scattered throughout the country in
universities, hospitals and research
institutes, are specially equipped to
deal with the known kinds of germs
or chemicals that might be used in
warfare.
The Federal Civil Defense Agency
is working with the Public Health
Service in co-ordinating all arms
which may have bearing on detec-
ton, prevention or cure in a germ
attack. All conceivable avenues of
approach, whether through crops,
animals or humans, are under sur
veillance. StockpileS of antibiotics
like penicillin and streptomycin are
being built up in strategic locations.
If a germ warfare alarm were to
be sounded, the Public Health Serv-
ice-civil defense team. using techni-
clans now standing by, could move
swiftly into a stricken area. Supple
mentary aid would be provided by the
volunteer groups being recruited by
civil defense organizations throughout
the country.
No Immediate Worry
Are any Of the current or recent
epidemicS of influenza believed to
have been artificially introduced? Our
national health authorities reply with
an emphatic mo-" They get their
quota Of scare" notices from panicky
citizens, but nothing family resem-
bling the real thing has been noted
to date. The "flu epidemic" this year
has not been unusual up to now, they