Word: meselson
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Dates: during 1980-1989
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...years the governement has insisted that "yellow rain" in East Asia is evidence of chemical warfare used by the Soviet Union. Not so, says Cabot Professor of Natural Sciences Matthew Meselson. Instead, he charged in a report published in Scientific American magazine, the yellow rain is really nothing more than bee feces...
Four Harvard professors, including. Cabot Professor of the Natural Sciences Matthew S. Meselson and professor of Physics David Nelson, were named as recipients of MacArthur Fellow ships, one of the most prestigious academic awards granted in the United States...
...Meselson was honored for his ground breaking research in molecular biology and his manipulation of DNA for genetic engineering. Nelson was recognized as a leader in the field of condensed matter and glass, and is dealing with the question of the transition from solid to liquid matter...
Professor Matthew S. Meselson's attack on the Administration's position implicitly denies the validity of the government's evidence. Meselson contends that the toxins claimed by the Administration to be biological weapons are in fact naturally occurring microbes. Further, he claims that the "yellow rain" may actually be merely the product of mass bee defecation flights and says he was caught in just such a shower while visiting Thailand last month. Yet, while bee feces may create some toxins. Meselson's theory simply does not account for the indication of massive toxins in Southeast Asia...
WHILE WE AGREE with the majority opinion against chemical warfare, we find their lack of perspective disturbing. Most certainly Meselson's findings are insufficient but determining Soviet guilt should not be the focus of debate. Rather, as concerned Americans citizens, our attention ought to be focused on the issue of chemical warfare as a worldwide concern rather than an East-West moral rivalry. Too often, it seems, the Soviets are made to seem the scapegoat--especially when abuses are prevalent at home...