‘Yellow rain’ persuaders due in Wellington

Press, 21 April 1982, Page 6

‘Yellow rain’ persuaders due in Wellington

PA Wellington An American team headed by a . State Department official, Mr Gary Crocker, will arrive in Wellington to- *. day to convince New Zealand $ officials of the allegations bf ' : - “yellow rain” in Afghanistan. The Reagan Administration has accused the Soviet Union of killing 3042 people in Afghanistan with chemical weapons. A document pub- ; lished on March 21 also alleged that 6504 people had died in Laos after being victims of “yellow rain” attacks. .. The’ powdery substance called “yellow rain” is a fungal po’ison, called a mycotoxin. Butv the Melbourne

"Age” reported on Saturday that, a yellow powder sprayed by Vietnamese air- ' craft near Thailand recently ■■ turned out to beamixture of pollen and flour. \ The allegations, which'also;: detailed 981 deaths, through chemical .warfare in Kampuchea, have been criticsed within the .United States and denied bythe Soviet Union. . It has been suggested that . the information depended on interviews ; with , refugees, who could not possibly have . exact body counts and details of the cause of death in a fast-moving guerrilla war. "Even If that figure is only a lower limit, its precision, derived as it is from such ?• • ■ •

crude sources, can only subtract from the credibility of the claim,” said the “Wash■jngton Post” in an editorial on the allegations. The arrival of the American team this afternoon is believed to be part of an Administration effort to boost its side of the story, although ; the debate about the claims has raised little interest in, New Zealand. . ' The team arrived in Sydney last . .week and has been ..briefing and the news media there this: week. The United Embassy said '.’yesterday, the ' team members were analysts who worked on the chemical and ..biological warfare report.