Compelling Facts

BEE DUNG

The idea sounds prima facie absurd, which is exactly what the government would have us believe about the latest theory advanced for explaining the phenomenon of yellow rain. The government says the stuff is caused by Soviet chemical warfare in Southeast Asia and Afghanistan which, if true, is an egregious violation of international norms and several existing treaties.

But Harvard Professor Matthew S. Meselson is persisting in his claim that yellow rain is instead the feces of wild honeybees. Bee feces, Meselson and a Yale colleague have found, bear strong resemblances--in size, appearance, and characteristics--to alleged samples of yellow rain, many of which in fact contained pollen. Now back from a trip to Thailand, the scientists say they observed honey bees on defecation flights spraying the yellow spots that the government says are the residue of Soviet chemical weapons.

With no airtight scientific evidence available to prove the issue on either side, scientists and bureaucrats rush to back what seems most plausible or, some claim, what seems most politically comfortable. But the available evidence, Meselson's claims notwithstanding, appears to favor the government's contentions.

Meselson, a principled opponent of chemical warfare of longstanding, ought to be congratulated for his courageous pursuit of his bee hypothesis in face of ridicule and intransigency by the government. Still, his explanation for the yellow rain phenomenon answers only one part of the broad array of evidence collected by the government to back its claims.

Classified technical data indicates that the Soviets are involved with the development of chemical weapons. Hundreds of firsthand reports exist from refugees claiming to be the victims of yellow rain. Samples taken from alleged attack sites have been studied under laboratories and shown to contain toxins far in excels of what is normally found in Asia; these include samples of rocks, leaves, and blood and urine from alleged victims that do not contain the famous yellow spots Meselson says now are bee feces.

Meselson has doubts about each of these points, and offers possible alternative explanations. The scientific survey of samples of yellow rain and toxins weren't good enough, he says. He suggests that refugee reports are unreliable.

The burden of proof must always lie with the government when it makes such charges of international gravity. But Meselson's position only appears convincing if he is given the benefit of the doubt on each separate point--a dubious proposition at best.

Refugees' reports, for instance, are often dismissed as unreliable. But, as even Rep. Stephen J. Solarz (D-N.Y.), an authority on Asia and trenchant critic of the Administration, has pointed out, this contempt is ill founded. Refugees ranging from the Jews fleeing Nazi Germany to Cambodians fleeing Pol Pot carried the truth about the regimes they were fleeing, though it was initially dismissed. Solarz writes, "It strains credulity to believe that the refugees escaping "yellow rain" in Asia, alone among the victims of repression, are engaged in a monumental hoax."

When the United States first charged the Soviets with breaking treaties banning chemical weapons, many might have believed it to be just another example of the Reagan Administration's excessive communist paranoia. But numerous other governments, scientists, and liberal officials like Solarz, have joined the chorus of denunciation, and the available evidence--at least to the layman--seems compelling that the Soviets are up to no good.

Meselson says he will contine to press his investigation of the alleged chemical warfare and expresses confidence that the government story will eventually unravel. If indeed the State Department acted too hastily, it should move quickly to retract its charges and withstand the opprobrium it is sure to receive.

At the same time however, with reports filtering in that Iraq is using mustard gas in its battle with Iran, the world has not a moment to lose in redoubling its fight against chemical warfare, one of the most truly despicable forms of war there is. The most potent threat to this effort is complacency, an attitude that is heightened by current doubts and uncertainties about the government position.

This is why the government must further experiment and investigate the issue in order to convince skeptics like Meselson. The evidence may be compelling. But pragmatically speaking, only with a united front one the United States and other countries bring enough pressure to bear on the Soviets to stop flouting international law and morality.