Word: hmong
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...Southeast Asia. According to the State Department, the Soviet Union was manufacturing substances with the highly toxic chemical tricothecene mycotoxin and selling it to its allies for use against "resistance fighters" in those areas of the world. In addition, the U.S. government has reports from members of the Hmong tribe in Laos who claim to have seen this chemical dropped in the form of "yellow rain" from airplanes. If these charges are correct, the Soviet Union would be in violation of two international treaties, made in 1925 and 1972. Last spring, Matthew S. Meselson, Cabot Professor of Natural Sciences, challenged...
Meselson: I must disagree with that, because it is the Hmong who handed in the samples and said "this is what comes from the airplanes." Some of these absolutely do not come from planes. They are bee feces. So when someone presents you with a yellow material and says "this came out of an airplane or out of a weapon,"--bee feces don't come out of airplanes or weapons--and you know that he's wrong about that, that should tell you that everything else he has said needs to be reevaluated...
Meselson: I disagree. The people I know who have conducted extensive interviews in the Hmong camp have told me that they're really not sure whether there is any chemical warfare--that they're impressed by the stories--but that there are also inconsistencies. I don't think it is right to say that everybody who has talked to the Hmong believe in the existence of yellow rain...
Schwartzstein: Oh I didn't say everyone, but there's a feeling that the Hmong are accurately reporting their observations...
...Hmong tribesmen were apparently the first secret reconnaissance force to enter Laos on behalf of the soldiers missing in action but not the first ones to try. Angered by the refusal of the Carter Administration to accept and act on the uncertain proof that Americans are being held in Southeast Asia, families of the missing raised a dozen-man commando squad of their own-an underfinanced and overaged group of veterans from the Green Berets. Their improbable training center for an operation code-named "Velvet Hammer" was an academy for cheerleaders in Leesburg, Fla., near Orlando. Their leader was retired...