Word: meselson
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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...
...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...
...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...