a
4

By JOHN MOSS

Manoeuvres by American
troops in West Germany, taking
them within a few miles of the
Czechoslovak border, are” not
the only example of co-opera-
tion between the military chiefs
of Washington and Bonn.

There is growing evidence of
close collaboration between the
two countries for preparations
for chemical and biological war-
fare.
Activities in West Germany
carry on from where the nazis
left off and there is continuous
exchange of know-how with the
United States.

Nerve gases — deadlier than
phosgene, chlorine and mustard
gases used in the First World
War — were first developed in
Germany in the late ’30s from
work on insecticides.

In low concentrations, nerve
gases dim vision and hurt eye-
balls, the chest tightens and
there is difficulty in breathing.
In higher concentrations, mus-
cles twitch, there are cramps,
tremors and involuntary defac-
tion or urination, convulsion,
confusion, asphyxia and death.

The first came, in 1936, from
the work of Dr. Gerhard Schra-
der, a research chemist with I.G.
Farbenindustrie at Leverkusen
and the first German patent was
filed on July 22, 1937.

1G. Farben also developed
Zyklon B used by the nazis in
concentration camp gas chamb-
ers.
Tabun was the first to be
developed, then sarin in 1938
and soman was ready by the
end of the war; each was more
deadly than the one before.

Stockpiles were accumulated
during the war, but the gases
were not used. At the end of the
war samples and some stocks
were whisked off to the United
States (and to the Soviet Union).

Under U.S. codes tabun is
GA, sarin GB and soman GD. It
is not clear whether there was
or is a GC. These G agents were
the deadliest agents known —
the average lethal inhaled dose
for sarin is one ten-thousandth
part of a gram—until the de-
velopment of the V agents, by
Britain.

ICI managed to file its patent
for the first of these in 1955,
just before the Bayer applica-
tion. Bayer is one of the succes-
sors to I. G. Farben in West
Germany. One of the inventors
in the Bayer application was the

BONN-WASHINGTON
PREPARE FOR CB. WAR

The institute for

bacteriological and chemical weaponry.

same Dr. Schrader, responsible
for the first nerve gases.

By 1960, Britain had told the
Americans all about V agents,
and how to make them.

V agents are even worse than
G agents. They can attack
through the skin, as well as

inhalation, and bring
death in minutes. They can re-
main active for several weeks.

Respirators are insufficient
protection—complete, imperme-
able cover of the whole body
put on in time is needed. Injec-
tions of atropine, the active in-
gredient of deadly nightshade,
might help, and a pill has been
developed at Porton.

German. officers have visited
U.S. chemical warfare facilities.
For example the Commercial,
the local paper for Pine Bluff
(Arkansas), reported on Janu-
ary 8, 1967: “Five high ranking
Officers of the West German
army will visit the Pine Buff
arsenal this week for a four-day
orientation tour.”

-Pine Buff arsenal is a mass
production factory for chemical
warfare agents. The visiting
group included the commandant
of West Germany’s artillery and
CB warfare school and the train-
ing aide to the head of the West
German CBW corps.

West Germany has assured
its allies that its hands are

clean. Both West Germany and
the German Democratic Repub-
lic ratified the Geneva Protocol
about CB warfare or agreed to
be bound by previous ratifica-
tion.

Article One of Protocd! III
of 1954 to the Brussels Treaty
of 1948 says that the German
Federal Republic shall not ma-
nufacture on its territory any
atomic, biological and chemical
weapons.

West Germany has assured
its allies in the Western Euro-
pean Union that it will not pro-
duce CB weapons.

But Dr. Ehrenfried Petras,
former director of the microbio-
logical laboratory of the Insti-
tute of Aerobiology, Grafschaft,
Sauerland, recently charged that
West Germany was systematic-
ally preparing for CB warfare.

Dr. Petras sought asylum in
the German Democratic Repub-
lic and blew the gaff from his
nine years experience at the
West German equivalent of
Porton.

He said that his institute was
camouflaged by coming formal-
ly under the Fraunhoffer Soci-
ety, named after a famous Ger-
man scientist of the 19th cen-
tury, but it was in fact managed
and controlled by the Ministry
of Defense.

Among those who visited the

} ba ow a

in Gratschft, West Germany. Here is where Bonn develops and tests its

institute was German-American
Prof. Alexander Goetz from
Pasadena, who stayed at Graf-
schaft on two occasions for six
weeks in 1961 and 1962.

Prof. Goetz had worked on
aerosol research for many years
for the Pentagon. This is a key
field in CB warfare, because it
finds out how a poisonous or
infective substance spreads.

The Defense Ministry heads a
tightly knit program of research,
testing and preparation for pro-
duction, much of which is
channelled through existing civil
research establishments, West
German chemical trusts, univer-
sity institutes and other re-
search bodies.

The Defense Ministry also
has its own establishments, in-
cluding a proving ground on
Lueneburg Hearth, where the
nazis finally surrendered in
1945, and a defense school at
Sonthofen.

The Defense Ministry vets all
staff employeed at Garfschaft
and the modern chemical indus-
try of West Germany is in a
position to supply large quan-
tities of war material at short
notice.

There is a special gas cham-
ber at Graftschaft called the
bunker, only available to depart-
mental heads and the director
of the institute, to try out the

most toxic substances.

V agents are tried out on;
mals and on human skin.

Dr. Petras, with a collea
made a study of how mili
establishments could be para|
ed quickly by biological we
ons. All material used for |
even scribbled notes, y
given up to security officers
leaving the laboratories.

A virus centre for the wh
of NATO forces in Central |
rope was to be installed in|
Grafschaft Institute, inclug
typhus, :paratyphus and enter
viruses for experimental p
poses.

TP 59—a highly poisom
compound, structurally so
where between sarin and sof
—was used in experiments,
rats. Antidotes were also trig

Comprehensive tests Ww
carried out with soman uy
the cover term TP 60.

Experiments were conduc
combining nuclear _ radiat;
with chemical agents as part,
the total work conception of{
institute for atomic as well;
CB warfare.

Among universities worki
on CB warfare contracts
said to be the pharmacologi
institute of the University |
Goettingen, headed by Ph
Erdmann, who was supph
with soman by Grafschaft. ©

Grafschaft also maintains}
lations with university ing
tutes in Bonn, Muenster, Sw
bruecken and Keil. Scienti
work carried out for the Uj
Army by West German ing
tutes is also conveyed to Gr
schaft. These include the Ing
tute of Veterinary Physioly
of the Goethe University 1
Frankfurt-on-Main and the ch
mical institute of Bonn Unive
sity. |

The Ministry of Defence l
been forcing the .pace ai
while previously work wi
soman was looked on-as the §
per limit of research work!
looked on as the lowest sty
of further work. |

Soman is where the nazis i
off in 1945. It is where t#
heirs start today. Dr. Pett
charged that there was not of
close collaboration between i
institute and those in the US
but that there was also co-opt
ation with British institutes t#

This is another reason for é
manding that the  secumi
screen round Porton be ti

down. (Morning Sti

Comment: Soviet disarmament proposals

By MIKHAIL KRYLOV

Soviet accent is again on dis-
armament. On January 20,
Leonid Zamyatin, the head of
the press department of the
Soviet Foreign Ministry, held a
press conference on this ques-
tion., The statement which he
read out emphasizes that further
progress in general and complete
disarmament is a major factor in
removing the war threat and
easing present international ten-
oe s

It is the view of the Soviet
Government that achievement of

‘agreement on specific questions

of halting the arms race, includ-

.ing the problem of limiting the

nuclear arms race, is feasible,
if not easy.

Isn’t this point of view too
optimistic?

No, it is not. The Soviet Gov-
ernment proves this, simply and
convincingly, by mentioning
such international agreements
of -the recent period as the

treaty banning nuclear weapons
tests in the atmosphere, outer

space and under water, the,

treaty prohibiting the orbiting
of nuclear weapons round the
earth and deploying them in
outer space and on celestial
bodies, and also the treaty on
the non-proliferation of nuclear
weapons, now open for signature
and already signed by more than
80 states.

The above-mentioned agree-
ments were reached first of all
because both the widest sec-
tions of the public in all parts
of our planet and the govern-
ments of the overwhelming ma-
jority of countries realise that
the further arms race is fraught
with great danger for world
peace and the future of mankind
and that there is an urgent need
to stop this race and achieve
general and complete disarma-
ment in the end.

This factor’s influence is
growing all the time. Far from

allaying mankind’s fears, the

PACIFIC TRIBUNE—JANUARY 31, 1969-—Page 8 vers veilos’ ules

arms race is intensifying them
as time goes on. This was re-
affirmed by the 23rd session of
the UN general assembly.

A resolution on the report of
the 18-nation committee stressed
that every effort should be bent
to secure an end to the arms
race, particularly that of nuclear
weapons.

As an urgent matter the ses-
sion is known to have discussed
the Soviet Government’s mem-
orandum on some urgent meas-
ures for ending the arm race
and for disarmament, it recom-
mended that the 18-nation com-
mittee should continue consider-
ing measures of that kind. The
Soviet Government believes, and
with reason, that a positive re-
sponse to and support by many
general assembly delegations of
the memorandum proposals tes-
tify not only to the urgency of
seeing these measures imple-,
mented, but also to the possibil-
ity of starting now practical
work on their realization.

ae Ra 2 S54 he BR Be

The Soviet Union emphasizes
once again that with the treaty
on the non-proliferation of wea-
pons signed and in force, the
treaty to which it attaches
exceptional significance, the top-
priority task now is to raise and
solve the question of prohibiting
the use of nuclear weapons.

Agreement in principle on bi-
lateral Soviet-American talks on
strategic means of delivery of
nuclear weapons was reached
between the U.S.S.R. and the
U.S.A. last summer. But the
opening of talks is being delay-
ed, not through the fault of the
U.S.S.R. The general. assembly
is. known to have passed a spe-
cial resolution welcoming this
agreement and calling on them
to start these negotiations as
soon as possible.

The Soviet Government saw
fit to reaffirm its readiness to
get down to a serious exchange
of views on this major issue. In
doing so, as Leonid Zamyatin
stressed at the press confer-

pig 3 iV Fs

taking steps to restrain the m@
of strategic weapons
meet the interests of consolid
ing world peace and _ securif
This would also create more fi
ourable conditions for solvit
other key issues in the disarit
ment field.
As for Washington, it ?
known not to have changed!
principle its favourable atti
to _ bilateral Soviet-Ameri@é
talks. President Nixon often s#
that he is for such talks. 8
one can’t ignore the fact
voices are again being heard?
the United States demanding
have a military strategic sup
iority over the U.S.S.R. What)
more, this is being said by /%,

close surroundings. i
proach, if it really becomes #
American administration’s ! ‘|
will certainly not contribute”
the success of the: forthco
talks. (N

259%. Sie4: GIGI