jj 1:` PEACE AND PROGRESS 1945 - 1970 WORLD HEALTH The magazine of the World Health Organization October 1970 U K: 2/3d USA: 0.50 UNITED NATIONS 25th ANNIVERSARY WORLD HEALTH Ttie magazine°, gm World Health Organization GazMe, 1970 i I I _ 11 mi. The cover features the UN flag, the United Nations building in New York, the Palais des Nations in Geneva, the armillary sphere in the Park of the Palais and the UN stamp issued for the 25th anniversary. Contents Twenty -five years of perseverance and progress 3 I Wish, by U Thant 5 Dakar makes haste, by Monique Jacot 6 Let the river live, by Lucjan Wolanowski 12 Chemical and biological weapons: the hazard for mankind, by Professor Matthew Meselson . . 18 Around the world 30 All correspondence should be addressed to "World Health", WHO, Avenue Appia,1211 Geneva 27, Switzerland Twenty-five years of perseverance and progress Twenty-five years ago a war ended —a war which for the first time showed that man might bring the world itself to an end. Twenty-five years ago, with the smoke still rising from the ruins, the United Nations was founded. A glance through newspapers of the time reminds us of the immense hopes that accompanied this event. In a world wisely governed, the UN was to install the reign of peace and justice, and thus contribute to the well-being of all mankind. If the results have not always measured up to these hopes, one of the reasons is perhaps this very excess of expectation that spread throughout the world after five long cruel years of war. Another is per- haps that people tend to forget the horrors of world war. There have indeed been a number of disappointments over the last twenty-five years, and in different parts of the world we have expe- rienced cold war as well as mortal conflict; but no-one can overlook the tireless work for peace carried out by the United Nations. Its servants, day after day, have striven with faith and perseverance to allay antago- nisms, reduce conflicts and improve international relations. Without the United Nations, the great adventure of our time —decolonization--would not have been possible, or at least could not have been pursued so rapidly. Nor can we ignore the UN'S constant efforts towards disar- mament, which include the report on chemical and biological war- fare referred to elsewhere in this issue. Above and beyond its efforts to maintain international order, the United Nations directly or through the specialized agencies exerts its influence on social and economic development in accordance with Article 55 of the UN Charter: "The United Nations shall pro- mote: higher standards of living, full employment, and conditions of economic and social progress and development; solutions of international eco- nomic, social, health and relat- ed problems; and international cultural and educational co- operation; and universal respect for, and ob- servance of, human rights and fundamental freedoms, for all without distinction as to race, sex, language or religion." In each one of these fields, the United Nations through its Develop- ment Programme and the specialized agencies is constantly at work. Too often this action is overlooked. Each day, quietly, discreetly, the cons- tructive work goes on; in this issue, World Health accordingly highlights a number of social and economic activities that have been undertaken with the support of the Develop- ment Programme. In one country, a general plan to overcome environ- mental pollution is being carried out; in another, a water supply scheme goes forward; in yet another, the better use of natural resources is sought. In these and many other projects, the general objective re- mains the same : to speed progress and improve man's well-being. Great tasks remain for the United Nations. During the Second Devel- opment Decade, which starts on 1 January 1971, international efforts will be concentrated on carrying out some of them. The United Nations is trying to build a world of peace and prosperity, but it can only succeed if men and women every- where really want it to. ■ 4 Hydro-electric plant under construction near Rio de Janeiro with aid from the United Nations. 3
I WISH... by U Thant Address by the Secretary-General to the San Francisco commemorative meeting for the 25th anniversary of the signing of the United Nations Charter on 26 June 1945 It is the custom in many countries to make a wish on the occasion of an anniversary. In Burma too we have the custom of "Su Taung", of the bidding of good wishes on the day of anniversaries. Throughout the world such customs reflect the deep unity of men's aspirations. On the occasion of the twenty-fifth anniversary of the United Nations, I would like to express the following wishes for humanity : I wish that men may cease to hate and kill their fellow men for reasons of race, colour, religion, nationalism or ideology; I wish that more love, compassion and understanding will guide the management of human affairs; I wish that the rich and privileged will share their blessings with the poor; I wish that nations will enrich each other in the art of governing men in peace, justice and prosperity; I wish that all nations will unite to face with courage and deter- mination the unprecedented world-wide problems that lie in store for humanity; I wish that the immense progress achieved in science and technology will be equalled in the spheres of morality, justice and politics; I wish that the world will listen more attentively to the concerned voice of youth; I wish that the leaders of the great nations of our time surmount their differences and unite their efforts for the benefit of all mankind; I pray for a rapid restoration of peace in devastated Indochina, for a just and lasting peace in the Middle East as prescribed by the United Nations and for an early involvement of the People's Republic of China in the activities of world organization. I address my best wishes—"Su Taung" to all of you and to all men and women of goodwill on this earth. 3
Dakar makes haste by Monique Jacot The United Nations Development Programme supports the efforts of the world's low-income nations to make the best use of their human and national resources. UNDP is a partnership of governments, peoples and seventeen agencies, including WHO, to build peace by bettering human life. More than half the cost of all the projects together is borne by the developing countries themselves. In Senegal, UNDP is providing over two million dollars for a water development project in Dakar which the Government is carrying out in coope- ration with WHO. I had already been told before I set out : the Africa of the bongo drums, the beads, the voodoo man and the topless mini-minis—the old travelogue version of Africa—is on the way out, definitely. Progress is everywhere, even in the bush and the desert—the universal civilization of concrete, electric wiring and the tooth brush is gradually submerging the planet in the same familiar drabness. Dakar. A great big breath of hot air enters the plane as soon as the door is opened. From then on I am assailed by impressions in quick succession, contrast- ing, contradictory, confusing—the tradi- tional jostling with the modern. Even in the Medina, the old quarter near the port, and in the shanty towns away from the centre of the city, there is the same contrast: gay crowds in colourful traditional dress, with children running everywhere, in a setting where the symbols of industrial civilization are omnipresent : bicycles, transistors, soft-drink bottles. Yet in the capital of Senegal one essential feature of the 20th century is missing—a modern water supply system. I arrived at the very time when a survey on the need for water was being made in the under- priviliged districts of Dakar and on this particular point was able to see for myself what tremendous efforts a developing country has to undertake before it can hope to climb up to the level of the consumer society. Dakar is, above all, a mushroom city. Under Napoleon III, Captain Pinet-La- prade, with orders to establish a port for the penetration of West Africa, chose the site of the Cape Verde Peninsula. Work started in 1862. Today, a century later, Dakar and its suburbs has a population of about half a million. New quarters have sprung up such as Fann and Pikine, a satellite city of "hard" houses. Dakar acts as a strong magnet for the people of the interior, who come streaming to the city as soon as an uncle or a cousin can put them up. So the family ranks swell rapidly—the average number of people per household is eight, who crowd into one or two rooms built of planks and currugated iron. Cooking, eating, washing up, doing the laundry, looking after the children, every- thing is done outside these shacks, which of course mostly lack gas, electricity and running water. The main obstacle to the improvement of living conditions, to say nothing about public health, is obviously the lack of water. It is true that even in what are called the industrialized countries piped water may be lacking, but only in isolated dwellings lost in the mountains or perched on some rocky island. In Dakar, for the mass of the people, public street fountains are the only source of supply. And by 1980 the population is expected to double. So something has to be done quickly before the situation gets completely out of hand as has apparently already happened in some of the large cities of south-east Asia. It can't be denied that most of the people find the present situation accept- able. They do not always realize its drawbacks and inherent dangers. After all, the water you get at the street fountain doesn't cost anything, and fetching it is more than just filling your bucket or 4 Every day the housewives meet when fetching water in Dakar. A pleasant occasion—but it may be a long way to go. 7 Dakar attracts ever more people from the country, aggravating a number of basic health problems. I. The approach to a typical neighbourhood. People cluster round a public fountain. In the centre, the city official, who is there to see that everyone awaits his turn. A water vendor passes a housewife on her way back from the fountain. Drainage ditches for carrying off rain- water serve as a dumping placefor waste of all kinds. 1
1 A fisherman on Lake Guiers, 250 kilometres north-east of Dakar; the lake will soon be one of the main reservoirs for the city. Going from house to house, interviewers try to find out exactly what are the needs of the families who will benefit by the new water supply system. Here a question is being explained. Running through the desert sands, water- pipes from Lake Guiers draw ever closer to Dakar. your drum; the fountain is a place to meet your friends, to pass the time of the day, and to exchange the latest news. As part of its efforts to improve the people's standard of living, the Govern- ment of Senegal requested international assistance. Consequently, the United Na- tions Development Programme (uNDP) en- trusted the World Health Organization with the task of drawing up a master plan for water development in Dakar. Not only the mechanical problems of bringing water into and out of the average citizen's house needed study, but also the social implications of such a change. A group of Dutch consultant engineers was entrusted with the task of making a house-to-house study of the population's water uses and needs. I arrived in Dakar when the survey was being started and was lucky enough to be able to follow one of the teams of investigators on its round through the old streets of the Medina and to the waste lands where the shanty towns have proliferated. The questionnaire is long. It deals with the kind of housing, the number of people in the household, their income, how they obtain water, etc. and it takes over an hour before the interviewers get through the 120 questions. There are twelve inves- tigators in all, and in a day they manage to finish about twenty interviews. The 3 information they gathered has now been transferred to some 21,000 cards which are being digested by a computer in the Netherlands. It is clear that the amount of water used in the populous quarters is low when compared with consumption in Dakar's luxury houses and apartments where the water is of course piped: 10 to 15 litres a day per person on the one hand and up to 350 litres on the other. The distance between the street fountain and the dwell- ing obviously plays a part. The average is 200 to 300 metres, but some houses are as far as 800 metres from the nearest fountain, which makes quite a long walk there and back. Then the water at the street fountains is only turned on for a certain number of hours every day, so there may be a long wait with a bustle and crush at the end. A clan apart For the tourist or a photographer like myself, the gay, busy throng is attractive, but it is also a reminder of the precarious state of the city's water supply. At normal times, but specially when there is a drought, some of the housewives in the Medina and the shanty towns buy from the water vendors who peddle their ware in barriques of 25 to 30 litres and usually charge ten times the price of metered water. Water vendors are a clan apart who dress in a special way and are likely to survive as a profession in Dakar for some time to come. The guardians of the fountains where they fetch their water get a daily rake-off. At other fountains they are usually banned Even more serious than the water supply situation seems to me the business of getting rid of wastes. In the Medina, slops and trash are thrown into the canals which were originally built to carry off rain water. In the dry season the wastes rot in the open and in the wet season the canals overflow... Pollution is particularly serious on some of the beaches. Once again the need for a modern water supply and waste disposal system is only too obvious. Not only the planners but especially the people should feel the need for change. The Government and wHo are investi- gating the situation, partly by talking to the people themselves. Even under the present physical arrangements, many im- provements are possible. For example, it is being explained to the women of Dakar that in the interests of hygiene, different water vessels should be used for different purposes, for cleaning the vegetables, for washing, for drinking, etc. and, in the long run, perhaps the educational com- ponent is more important than any engi- neering miracle. ■ 11 k ' • Let the river live by Lucjan Wolanowski The scope of the UN Development Programme is not, as some people may think, confined to Africa, Asia and Latin America. In the heart of Europe, in Poland, UN DP has asked WHO to help tackle one of the most pressing problems of our industrial age—pollution. Launched in 1966, this project should lead to a long-term solution which might be applicable in other countries desirous of following the Polish example—a solution which will restore Poland's rivers and streams to their rightful place in the physical and human ecology. History wanders through the streets of Torun on the banks of the Vistula where nearly 500 years ago the great astronomer Copernicus was born. But the lawsuit that is being tried today in the courts of Torun is in every aspect contemporary. The fish caught in the Vistula stink of fuel-oil. The customers do not appreciate fillets of fish in petroleum sauce, so the catch is sold for a few pennies to farmers who use it as pig fodder. The fishermen point the accusing finger at the alleged culprit: a large petro-chemical factory higher up the river at Plock; whatever the court's decision may be, the waste water from the factory is slowly and surely poisoning the river. Such lawsuits are becoming more and more frequent in Poland. Factories, which already pay enormous sums to the State for the pollution they cause, may soon find themselves paying substantial dam- ages to the fishermen as well. Water pollution, however, is only part of a very complex problem that for years has been studied by Polish scientists and of which the whole community is becoming ever more conscious. Poland is not a rich country when it comes to water. She is thirsty now, and her thirst will become greater as time goes on. The amount of water available per inhabitant in France is twice that available in Poland. The amount of pre- cipitation in Poland is well below the European average. But the demand for water never stops growing. All along the immense S formed by the Vistula as it makes its way from the Beskid mountains to the Baltic, factories cling like leeches to the river banks, making ever-increasing demands on the resources of the river—paper mills, glass- works, iron and aluminium foundries, combines producing synthetic fibre, car factories, cement works, power stations, petro-chemical plants and others. Like the legendary dragon, said to have made its lair in a cave near Cracow, the thirst of this hydra-headed industrial monster is unquenchable : the monster uses 1,400 tons of water to produce one ton of artificial silk; two tons of water to produce one kilo of streptomycine; 1,200 litres to produce one kilo of alumi- nium; 2,300 litres to produce a kilo of synthetic rubber. And this water, after being used, is dumped back into the stream, often to be re-used and re-polluted further down the line. Yet Poland needs all the water it can get from the Vistula and other rivers in order to keep up with its industrial growth. Given the present rate of increase in the demand for water, it has been predicted that Poland will be seriously short of water by 1985 and very thirsty industries will have to curtail production. Like the "blue" Danube, the "blue" Vistula is scarcely blue, but it has a long poetic tradition linked to the history of the country. In the 15th century, an Left: Foam accumulates on the Narew river, Poland. Above: The steel mills bear part of the responsibility for the thermal pollution of the Vistula. Below: The Debe reservoir near Warsaw, which has been increasingly contaminated by industrial pollutants. BALTIC SEA The Vistula and some of its affluents NAREW Hot waste-water from the steel mills as well as domestic sewage pour into an affluent of the Vistula. BESKID MOUNTAINS observer wrote "the water of the Vistula is clean and sweet to drink", and went on to note the presence of sturgeon and salmon, which are among the most fasti- dious of fish in their choice of waters. Over the centuries, the Vistula served to float the trees felled in the neighbouring forests down to the saw mills, and carried fleets of barges laden with corn, salt, wax, tar and coal. The Vistula bargemen enjoyed royal privileges and formed a powerful guild. In their covenants they claimed the right to be served something better to eat than "the daily fare of the river"—fresh salmon. The Vistula still flows, but how its waters have changed ! Today, salmon, sturgeon and smaller fish alike are finding it very hard to survive with their new neighbours, the great factories, in waste water choked with refuse, ashes, chemical salts, tars, phenol, bacteria and protozoa. In some places, a layer of grease has formed on the surface of the water and prevents oxygen from penetrating. Watchful serpents In these waters—once, according to Slavic mythology, the home of graceful water-sprites—scientists worried by this massive pollution have placed sampling pipes which, like sea-serpents, raise and lower their "heads" rhythmically every thirty seconds to gulp down mouthfuls of river water. Night and day, throughout the year, even in winter when the Vistula and the Oder are frozen over, these "ser- pents" collect their samples, which they spit into inconspicuous metal boxes on the banks or in boats. There, every thirty seconds, the samples are analyzed automatically for temperature, dissolved oxygen content, turbidity and other char- acteristics, and the findings are passed on to a "bank" where a central computer stores them. This computer, known as Odra 1003, forms part of a special complex of electronic equipment. In this respect, Poland has become a "pioneer territory" to which other countries may turn for information. Poland was chosen to lead the way because its water problems are among the most complicated known and because the country has trained specialists who have been active in this field for years and have experience of research in many countries. Poland was the first country in the world to set up a Faculty of Water Economy, in 1952, at the Warsaw Polytechnic School. When the PoL-5 project of the UN Development Programme now being carried out by WHO was launched, Poland was able to mobilize immediately no fewer than 150 specialists from 19 different scientific establishments. Industrial gutters The headquarters of project PoL-5 occupy several rooms of a large building in the northern part of Warsaw. There I met Tadeusz Murawski and Stanislaw Kawka who were discreetly optimistic about the operation. Though we often hear that pollution of air, land and water are the inevitable price of progress and that they go hand-in-hand with the devel- opment of industries and cities, we can no longer tolerate a situation which, in the long run, threatens the health and well-being of the whole human race. The time has come to take action. One after another, each river basin is closely examined by specialists. During the last few decades, factories engaged in light industry have been springing up all along the banks of the river Bystrzyca, for example, one of the tributaries of the Oder. Tanneries, dye-works and textile factories have transformed this mountain stream into an industrial drain. The reservoir built to prevent flooding is now nothing more than a large pool of dirty water. Perhaps it might have been better to fence off this artificial lake to keep the public away, but every sunny Sunday thousands of visitors from the surround- ing regions are attracted to it. They are mostly miners from the nearby coal- mines with their families. They can't travel long distances in search of sun and water, and are happy to relax on the banks of the reservoir. Why not make it a clean lake? Just as a housewife can clarify a fluid by passing it through a series of ever-finer sieves, a multi-stage water treatment plant will be set up to progressively cleanse the waters before they reach the reservoir. < At the Klimzowiec pilot plant, industrial and domestic waste is mixed in order to use the dilution capacities of both. Industrial waste can neutralize organic pollutants of domestic waste, while domestic waste can dilute many chemical pollutants. 15 V A technician attached to the UNDPIWHO project takes samples of clear water from a river in the Beskid mountains. The samples will be examined for dissolved oxygen content, which governs life in the stream. A Polish technician preparing samples for examination, in order to identify the type and quantity of pollutants. As many as 150 Polish technicians in 19 research institutes are at work on the protection of rivers against pollution. The water running in will take on some of the qualities of the Bystrzyca in the days before industrialization arrived in this part of the country. In the heart of the reservoir itself, a turbine will pump air to the depths of the water so that oxygen too may play its part in purifying the water. An experimental station has already been built as part of PoL-5 to test various methods. Some rivers, however, are even worse off than the Bystrzyca. The Rawa can no longer be called a river it is more like a sewer. In the centre of a densely populated area, 400 factories, large and small, add their waste products to the sewage running into the Rawa. Here, too, a multi-stage water treatment plant will be built. This time some of the water will be partially cleansed and poured back into the stream, and the rest will be purified sufficiently to be used for indus- trial purposes. Wealth from dirt It is actually possible to kill two birds with one stone and not only prevent pollution but recover valuable substances from the waste water. Four Polish fac- tories, for example, which produce syn- thetic fibres are at present losing 3,200 tons of zinc each year in this way; the zinc could be saved. The car factories of Warsaw have already been equipped with devices for the recovery of non-ferrous metals. Considerable amounts of nickel are now being economized; soon copper and chromium will also be "fished" back from the waters of the Vistula. Like the Borgias, the chemical factories of Blachownia Slaska had acquired a reputation as poisoners. Today, a re- cycling system has been introduced which provides the plant with enough water for six hours of operation while removing the nine tons of coal-tar and other by- products normally present. Coal-mining is an important industry in Poland. The coal mined at Rybnik finds buyers as far away as Japan. Most of the mines are located on or near small tributaries of the Oder and Vistula rivers in a region of limited fresh water supplies. As coal is mined, large springs of salt water are often tapped and have to be pumped away. Water seepage also leaches 16 salts from underground salt deposis—thus enormous quantities of brine are poured into the rivers of the region, destroying all aquatic life. New apparatus now being installed will separate the salt from the water, producing salt and clean water at one and the same time. Designed by Polish engineers and working on the principle of distillation, it will make it possible for all the mines of the region to drain off their water harmlessly. In fact, the Polish Government is financing re- search to find other useful chemicals present in waste waters. Putting fish to work The steel industry can take steps to lessen pollution as well. The Metallurgical Institute of Gliwice is studying a process, called "dry foundry", where the same supply of water moves in a closed circuit that requires only an occasional intake of water. Certain species of fish, when placed in aquaria set in the middle of the river, give warning when there is a sudden rise in the level of pollution. It seems likely that they will join the ranks of the un- employed when automatic systems come into use. For these fish can only sound the alarm, whereas the Odra 1003 computer system, when it receives an SOS, can tell immediately how much water from which reservoir should be channelled into the river to dilute the poisoned tide and weaken or eliminate its destructive force. Within a few seconds, all the necessary instructions can be passed to the staff of the reservoir in question. The battle will go on for many years to come. The scientists who wage it will need not only knowledge and skill but patience and perseverance as well. There is no question of a sudden, dramatic break-through: we can hardly expect to overcome the effects of years of neglect and abuse in a few weeks or months; but if all goes well, by around 1985, it is predicted, there will be no more than 70 kilometres of "gutter rivers" left in Poland, and one third of her rivers will be restored to "trout" standard, clean and sparkling. It is true that fishermen will never again make their living from the Vistula or the Oder, nor will bargemen complain of having too much salmon to eat, but the water will be clean and sweet. Historians of the future may relate how once again the animals of the forest could safely quench their thirst in the rivers and the people of the cities once more enjoy their waters. A new age will have arrived to turn the page on the unloveliness of our 20th century. ■ A meteorological station installed on the Vistula river provides a constant flow of information to a central computer, allowing a comparison to be made between solar radiation on the river and heating by a power plant upstream. There is hour-by-hour automatic recording and monitoring of temperatures as well as of the oxygen content of the water. Chemical and biological weapons: the hazard for mankind by Professor Matthew Meselson Harvard University, Cambridge, Massachusetts. It is sometimes said that pure science is neutral, meaning that fundamental scien- tific discoveries can be applied for good or for ill. An area of science that is receiving much attention for its possible future consequences to the quality of human life is modern biology. During this century and especially within the past twenty years, we have learned a great deal about some of the most fundamental living processes. We have learned the chemical structure of genes. We know how they duplicate and how they provide a master guide to cellular activities. Much has also been learned about the basis of muscle contraction and the structure of membranes and the mechanism of nerve impulse transmission. New experimental methods and concepts are setting the stage for a successful attack on the problems of differentiation and development and for achieving an understanding of the functions of the brain. All the new and forthcoming discoveries in fundamental biology are bound to have an important impact on our lives and those of our descendants. The application of these discoveries will open up new dimensions for the improvement of human life. Unfortunately, the misapplication of medicine and its allied sciences such as microbiology, biochemistry and pharma- cology can also have the most perilous consequences for mankind. Perhaps the most destructive of all such consequences would be the unrestrained application of biology and chemistry to warfare. Fortunately, there are strong restraints against chemical and biological warfare (cBw). During the past few years, in- creasing international attention has been given to the need for reaffirming the tradi- tional restraints and for going beyond them by adopting new measures of arms control and disarmament for CB weapons. In this article, I shall briefly discuss the nature of chemical and biological weap- ons. Then I shall describe some of the international efforts that are being under- taken to prevent the production and use of these weapons and some of the problems confronting these efforts. Although work on CBW has been done largely in secret, many of the essential facts about the weapons have become available to the public through the recent publication of a number of expert reports. In 1968, the Secretary General of the United Nations, acting at the request of the General Assembly, brought together an international group of experts to pre- pare a report on the nature of CB weapons and the effects of their possible use *. Written for the non-technical reader, the UN report gives a good general discussion of CB weapons and their effects. A more technically detailed report, emphasizing the possible consequences of CB warfare for civilians, has been produced by a group of consultants to the World Health Organization ** appointed by the Director- General. In spite of differences of emphasis and approach, the two reports come to similar conclusions. The summary of the WHO report is particularly relevant here : Chemical and biological weapons pose a special threat to civilians. The large-scale or, with some agents, even limited use of chemical and biolo- gical weapons could cause illness to a degree that would overwhelm existing health resources and facilities. Large-scale use of chemical and biolog- ical weapons could also cause lasting changes of an unpredictable nature in man's environment. The possible effects of chemical and biological weapons are subject to a high degree of uncertainty and unpre- dictability. * United Nations (1969) "Chemical and bac- teriological (biological) weapons and the effects of their possible use. Report of the Secretary- General." New York, 100 pages. (Sales No. E. 69.1.24). ** World Health Organization (1970) "Health aspects of chemical and biological weapons. Report of a WHO Group of Consultants." Geneva, 132 pages. 18 In this photo-montage, cholera vibrios, enlarged thousands of times, symbolize the menace of bacteriological warfare. ••• Job t Small children cannot wear masks. For protec- tion they can be placed in gas-proof bags with filter walls, an expen- sive method. Protective suits and masks are becoming increasingly awkward and cumbersome. In war, it would be extremely difficult to protect the population. 5. Although advanced weapons systems would be required for the employment of chemical and biological agents on a militarily significant scale against large civilian targets, isolated and sabotage attacks not requiring highly sophis- ticated weapons systems could be effec- tive against such targets in certain cir- cumstances with some of these agents. The weapons The WHO report defines chemical agents of warfare as all substances employed for their toxic effects on man, animals, or plants. This definition excludes chemicals that exert their primary effects through physical force, fire, air deprivation, or reduced visibility such as high explosives, smoke, and incendiary substances. Biological warfare agents are those that depend for their effects on multiplication within the target organism. They could be used in war to cause disease or death in man, animals, or plants. Chemical and biological weapons are linked together in the psychology, the customs, and the international law that restrain their use. There are also important areas of overlap in the technology of dispersal of these . weapons and in the means for protection against them. Never- theless, there are several general categories that may be distinguished and it is useful to do so in order to describe their nature and possible effects. I shall discuss five kinds of weapons : Lethal biological weapons. Incapacitating biological weapons. Lethal chemical weapons. Incapacitating chemical weapons. Anti-plant agents. The distinction between lethal and in- capacitating is not clear-cut. This is par- ticularly true under the extremely un- controlled conditions of warfare. Even tear gas is used in war together with bullets and bombs to increase casualties by forc- ing men from protective cover and by reducing their ability to defend themselves. The distinction is further blurred by the existence of a continuous spectrum of agents from those that are highly lethal to those that in moderate dosages are usually incapaciting rather than lethal. Let us first consider lethal biological weapons. They operate by disseminating clouds of disease germs over the target area or upwind from it. The germs would then be inhaled by the target population. The disease anthrax is an example. Caused by the bacterium Bacillus anthracis, it is mainly encountered as a disease of domes- ticated animals that is occasionally trans- mitted to man. Because it is not normally very contagious among humans, natural cases of anthrax are generally sporadic rather than epidemic. However, if the bacteria were sprayed in the air as an aerosol, human populations over very large areas could be infected and killed. The inhalation of about fifty thousand spores of Bacillus anthracis, a dose weigh- ing less than a millionth of a gram, is believed to be enough to cause a fifty per cent chance of contracting pulmonary anthrax. Symptoms would first appear about a day after the attack. The onset might be mistaken for a common cold but this would be followed by severe coughing, cyanosis, respiratory failure and death. Untreated pulmonary anthrax is almost always fatal. The wHo report gives estimates of the area that can be covered by an attack with various biological agents under par- ticular illustrative conditions. As an exam- ple of a "small-scale" attack the report assumes that one light bomber delivers ground functioning "bomblets" containing a total of fifty kilograms of dry powdered anthrax spores along a two kilometer line at right angles to the prevailing wind. It is assumed that the attacker chooses a time when the intensity of atmospheric turbulence is less than a certain level. Such stable atmospheric conditions occur rather commonly at night. The bomblets release the agent as a fine mist which then drifts over the target area. The calculation takes into account the dissemination effi- ciency of the bomblets, the decay rate of anthrax infectivity, the rate of vertical dilution in the atmosphere, the rate of deposition on the ground and the dose response curve for man. For such an attack with anthrax spores, the wuo report predicts a high mortality rate over at least twenty square kilometers. Although there are many uncertainties in the quan- tities that enter into the calculation, this estimate is deliberately conservative. The United Nations report in a similar dis- cussion considers an attack by a large low flying bomber dispensing 10,000 kg of biological warfare agent along a one hundred kilometer line by means of a spray tank. The area in which a high casuality rate would occur following such an attack is estimated to be as large as one hundred thousand square kilometers, de- pending on the particular agent used. Microbes Among the lethal biological agents that might be considered for military use are the viruses of Eastern equine encephalitis and yellow fever, the rickettsia causing Rocky Mountain spotted fever and the bacteria causing anthrax, plague, cholera, glanders and melioidosis. There are moder- ately effective vaccines and antibiotics against some of these diseases but none against others. Moreover, such protection could be overwhelmed by a massive attack and for some agents antibiotics can be circumvented by the use of specially bred drug-resistant strains of the microoganism chosen by the attacker. Protection can be 4 Although strategic chemical weapons would add little to the already enormous destructive capability of the nuclear powers, the proliferation of nerve agent weapons among the non-nuclear nations would simply increase the scope for terror and threat in international relations and increase the world's Preoccupation with military preparations. given by gas masks or air-filtered shelters if there is advance warning of an attack, but no satisfactory early warning device has been developed. Even if warning were available, the protection of a civilian population would be an enormous task. The provision of gas masks and shelters, and the maintenance of discipline for their use would require a major and sustained economic and political effort. Even then, reliable protection of civilian populations against a determined biological attack could not be guaranteed. The next category of weapons to be considered is incapacitating biological weapons. An example is Venezuelan equine encephalitis This disease, caused by a virus, is characterized by severe headache, nausea and prostration. In natural epi- demics, the case fatality rate from Vene- zuelan equine encephalitis is generally less than 0.5 per cent. Whereas lethal biological weapons such as anthrax could be consid- ered for strategic attacks on populations over large areas, it has been suggested that incapacitating agents might be used in certain tactical situations to reduce the fighting efficiency of the other side, as, for example, before an invasion. Nevertheless, substantial numbers of civilians, partic- ularly infants and the infirm, would almost inevitably be killed by any widespread dissemination of incapacitating biological agents. This would be true even if the overall case fatality rate is only a few tenths of a per cent. Moreover, there is the possibility that the fatality rate under military conditions might be much higher than the rate estimated from natural occurrences of the disease, or from labora- tory experiments under controlled condi- tions. It is not likely that biological warfare agents would be deliberately chosen to be contagious to man. To do so would max- imize the risk of spreading disease far beyond the intended target, endangering the territory of the attacker and his allies. Nevertheless, the unnatural and highly uncontrolled conditions inherent in mili- tary operations create the possibility that wide-spread epidemics would be uninten- tionally started or that dangerous foci of infection would be established in man or animals. There is also danger that the bacteria or viruses used in an attack or even in a field test could subsequently emerge from exposed populations of hu- mans, rodents, birds, or other exposed animals in modified or mutated forms possessing increased persistence, virulence and contagiousness for man. From the foregoing, it should be clear that biological weapons could kill and incapacitate human populations over vast areas and that even the development and testing of these weapons could pose a threat to all mankind. Although biological weapons could be a terrible menace, the threat they present seems now to be receeding. After a White House review of a biological weapons programme that went forward out of its own momentum without any careful atten- tion from high civilian officials, the United States has decided unilaterally to renounce the development, production, possession and use of all biological weapons. Great Britain has proposed a draft convention under which all nations would renounce biological weapons and the UN Secretary General and the Security Council would investigate charges of violations. The So- viet Union together with eight other social- ist countries have put forward a draft convention for a ban on biological weap- ons and on chemical weapons as well. Charges of violations would also be re- ferred to the Security Council. Several other nations including the Netherlands, Austria, the Federal Republic of Germany, and Canada have given assurances that they will not produce biological weapons. Indeed, there doesn't seem to be any serious interest in acquiring these weapons in any nation. In this respect, the time is propitious for international agreement on biological disarmament. However, whether this can be secured may ultimately depend on progress in chemical arms control and disarmament, for in many respects the two are closely linked. Nerve gases Chemical weapons present a much more immediate problem. They were used in World War I in great quantity and are now stockpiled by the United States and the Soviet Union and are also possessed by several other nations. Modern lethal chemical weapons are the nerve agents, first developed but not used during World War II. These chemicals are hundreds of times more poisonous than the gases of World War I. They kill when inhaled or when deposited as liquid droplets on the skin. The term "nerve gas" derives from the fact that these poisons operate by interfering with the transmission of nerve impulses. They inactivate the en- zyme cholinesterase, which normally func- tions to terminate the transmission of a nerve impulse. After exposure to nerve agent, excitation continues without con- trol. This causes blurring of vision, intense salivation, convulsions and death from repiratory and circulatory failure. The first nerve gases to be produced were the so-called G agents, of which sarin or GB is probably the most important. Sarin is isopropyl methylphosphonofluo- ridate, a volatile liquid that evaporates at room temperature to a colourless and odourless gas. Weapons containing it pro- duce a spray which then evaporates, creat- ing a respiratory hazard for unprotected persons. The lethal exposure for man is estimated at 100 mg minutes per cubic meter. This means, for example, that a man would accumulate a lethal dose in one minute if the concentration of sarin in the air were 100 mg per cubic meter. A gas mask can provide good protec- tion against sarin. When properly worn, modern gas masks are capable of reducing the concentration of all known war gases by a factor of approximately one hundred thousand. In addition, there are chemical antidotes for nerve agents that can provide protection if the dose of the agent is not very great and if the antidote is adminis- tered promptly. Another class of nerve agent approxi- mately ten times more poisonous than the G agents was discovered in the 1950s. They are the so-called "v" agents. The United States is known to stockpile agent vx. Its formula is still secret although the WHO report suggests that it is ethyl S- dimethylaminoethyl methylphosphonothi- olate. Also a liquid but much less volatile than sarin, vx is lethal either when inhaled or when deposited on the skin. vx acts somewhat more slowly than sarin but still can kill within a few minutes after exposure. Because it is relatively non- volatile, vx can be used to contaminate the ground and objects on which it is deposited, making an area hazardous for many days. The lethal dose of vx applied to the skin has been estimated to be from two to ten mg depending on the site of application. Since contact with even a small droplet of vx can be fatal, adequate protection requires the wearing of a special suit as well as a gas mask. The wearing of protective suits and masks is extremely cumbersome. They are mechanically awk- ward and the build-up of body heat is a serious problem. Fighting efficiency would be severely reduced by the wearing of full protective equipment and also by the strict observation of various special precau- tions necessary for survival in a lethal chemical environment. For tactical use against an enemy without protective equip- ment, lethal chemicals would be devas- "No studies have yet been published on the long-term effects in man of exposure to CS (a tear gas), despite the increasing use of this agent by police and military forces throughout the world" notes the WHO report. 22
aniegeltioti- on, -4" 2-42610 - tating. Against an enemy possessing suits and masks and able to impose the wearing of such gear on one's own troops by the threat of retaliation in kind, lethal che- mical weapons would greatly complicate the battlefield without giving either side a major advantage. This consideration acts to discourage the use of chemical weapons against modern armies. Unfortunately, it can also act as an incentive for the use of chemicals against forces unable to defend themselves and against civilians. Lethal chemical weapons could be used for the strategic attack of urban popula- tions. A medium bomber or a converted commercial air transport can deliver enough nerve agent to kill a high propor- tion of unprotected persons throughout the central region of a large city. For example, in a calculation similar to that made for the area coverage capability of anthrax spores, the wxo report estimates that an airborne attack across the wind along a two kilometer line releasing four tons of nerve agent over a city would cause high casualties over an area of between two and forty square kilometers, depending on the specific nerve agent and types of munitions employed. Given adequate warning, a highly disciplined population could be defended against such an attack by a combination of gas masks, protective shelters and antidote therapy. As with defense against biological attack, appro- priate defensive measures would entail great economic outlays and the kind of rigid discipline that can be maintained only in a political atmosphere of extreme tension. Although strategic chemical weap- ons would add little to the already enor- mus destructive capability of the nuclear powers, the proliferation of nerve agent weapons among the non-nuclear nations would simply increase the scope for terror and threat in international relations and would further increase the world's preoc- cupation with military preparations. Poisoned weapons It is also important to consider the possible role of lethal chemical weapons in "low level" conflicts. Today such con- flicts are fought with high explosive and flame weapons which individually have limited area effect. Although such wars can be exceedingly destructive, they be- come so only when enormous quantities of weapons are used. Many of the types of munitions used in limited war, however, could be filled with lethal chemicals. In this way, the "kill area" of light-weight munitions such as mortar shells and rockets could be increased by a factor of as much as one hundred. Even though combatants could be provided with protective equip- ment, such weapons would be devastating to military units caught unprepared and to civilians, especially in densely populated urban areas. There is an additional class of toxic agents which under our definition would be classed as chemicals but which have im- portant similarities with biological weap- ons. These are the so-called toxins. They are poisonous substances produced by living organisms including plants, animals and bacteria. Examples are ricin from the castor bean, chironex toxin from a jelly fish, and botulinal toxin from the bacterium Clostridium botulinum. The above-men- tioned toxins are highly lethal to man. Others, such as the staphylococcus entero- toxin, the substance responsible for com- mon food poisoning, usually have an incapacitating effect that is only temporary. Toxins are not capable of multiplication within the body. That is why they may be regarded as chemicals. Nevertheless, the toxins produced by bacteria often cause symptoms similar to those caused by the bacterial infection itself. Thus, toxin weapons, both in terms of the means of their production and the symp- toms they can cause are closely related to biological weapons. Another similarity lies in the manner in which toxin weapons might be used. Certain toxins are consid- erably more poisonous than the most toxic nerve agents known. An example is botulinal toxin which the WHO report estimates to be over a hundred times more poisonous than vx. If botulinal toxin could be stabilized against deterioration in the air, extremely small amounts could be used for the attack of very great areas. Thus, if toxin weapons can be brought to anything like their full military potential, their area coverage capability would begin to rival that of germ weapons. Because of these similarities between toxins and germ weapons, the United States included toxins in its renunciation of biological weapons. Because toxins are not absorbed effec- tively through the skin, gas masks would provide protection as would shelters fitted with special air filters. Protection can also be afforded by prior immunization with a specific toxoid, but each toxoid is effective only against a particular kind of toxin and for some toxins the margin of protection is not enough to be of practical significance. Any attempt to defend civilian populations against attack with toxin weapons would run into essentially the same extremely difficult problems that are posed by other chemical and biological weapons. The only all-out employment of chemical warfare in which both sides used gas without restraint occurred during World War I. The first gas munitions used were tear gas grenades developed before the war for riot control and brought to the front as personal weapons by former police officiers. Subsequently, artillery shells filled with agents that cause visual impairment, respiratory irritation, and vomiting were introduced by both sides. These chemicals, collectively known as harassing agents, or short-term incapacitants, caused few di- rect casualties but were employed through- out the war in order to reduce the fighting efficiency of soldiers. Psycho-chemicals Modern incapacitating chemical weap- ons are of two types : one with effects lasting considerably beyond the period of exposure and one with brief effects. An example of the longer lasting type is the United States agent known as BZ. This is a psycho-chemical, the identity of which is still secret although the WHO report speculates that it belongs to the family known as benzilates. BZ is a solid that can be dispersed as an aerosol to be inhaled by persons in the target area. It effects both physical and mental pro- cesses causing blurred vision, disorienta- tion and confusion. Its incapacitating effects can last for several days. Although a great deal of effort has been made to find an incapacitating chemical weapon without undesirable side effects, none has been found. Although BZ was at one time portrayed as a satisfactory incapacitant, it is no longer so regarded, even in military circles. It can elicit unpre- dictable and often violent behaviour. Men highly motivated to fight may do so more tenaciously under its influence. Further- more, BZ has serious effects on the body's water balance and temperature regulating mechanisms that could lead to death, particularly under hot, dry conditions. The principal short-term incapacitant or harassing agent now in military use is cs. This compound, ortho-chlorobenzyl- idenemalononitrile was first synthesized in the 1920s. After World War II, it was developed as a riot control agent. When employed in warfare, it is more accurately described as a harassing agent or short- term incapacitant. A very large quantity of this material, over fifteen million pounds, has been employed in the fighting in Vietnam. cs is a white solid which when dispersed in the air as a fine powder or smoke is highly irritating to the eyes, nose, respira- tory tract, and, at high doses, to the skin. 4When man assaults nature... 25 A light plane spraying insecticides to increase food production. It is just as easy to spray chemicals that can defoliate large areas. cs causes intense irritation even at concen- trations in the range of one mg per cubic meter. Symptoms generally pass within minutes after exposure ends if the dosage is not too great. However, when used in warfare, dosages are sometimes high enough to cause severe blisters and burns that take several days to heal. Published estimates of lethal doses of cs for healthy adults vary from 25,000 to 150,000 mg minutes per cubic meter. They are based on extrapolation from results of tests on laboratory animals and may not be correct for man. Clearly, there is a very large difference between the lethal dosage of cs and the quantity inhaled by a person during a brief exposure to concentrations such as those generally used by properly trained police for riot control purposes. Nevertheless, many types of military cs weapons produce much higher concentra- tions of the agent than do police munitions and it may readily be calculated that exposures in certain battlefield situations will considerably exceed the dosages thought to be lethal for man. A newer form of this agent is designated cs2. It is a powder consisting of micron- size particles treated with silica gel and a silicone compound to improve its moisture resistence. cs2 can be effective in the field for several weeks. It is reintroduced into the air by the wind and the movement of people and vehicles. This form of cs is used to contaminate territory and field fortifications in order to deny them to the other side. Since a gas mask provides good protec- tion against cs, the main incentive to use it in warfare is when facing unsophisticated or poorly equipped forces. It is sometimes proposed that incapa- citating agents be used in order to make war more humane. There is good reason, however, to expect just the opposite effect. If incapacitating chemical weapons are introduced into a war in which lethal weapons such as bombs, bullets and flame are already in use, there will be great pressure to use the incapacitants in close coordination with the lethal weapons already in service in order to increase the the overall effectiveness of military opera- tions. This has been the experience when- ever incapacitating chemicals have been introduced into warfare from World War I to the present time. Plant killers The last weapons we shall consider are anti-plant agents. These may be either biological or chemical. Chief among the biological agents that could be used to attack plant life are certain fungi which attack food crops. The spores of such agricultural scourges as rice blast and wheat rust could be deliberately released over an enemy's territory in order to destroy his food supply. Such an attack would represent an extreme form of anti- population warfare since it would leave mi- litary forces and installations intact for a long time, exerting its military effect only slowly and indirectly by subjecting the civi- lian population to starvation. Anti-crop biological weapons are included in the re- cent U.S. renunciation of biological wea- ponry and there does not now seem to be any serious interest in these weapons on the part of any nation. A very different picture is presented by the chemical anti-plant weapons. The ex- tensive use of chemical herbicides in war- fare is quite recent, having so far occured only in Indochina. Some five million acres of forest land have been chemically defoliated in order to improve visibility for military reconnaissance and to deny territory to opposing forces. The chemicals are sprayed by low flying aircraft, each flight covering approximately 300 acres. Anti-plant chemicals have also been spray- ed on some five hundred thousand acres of crops in Vietnam, in order to deprive opposing forces of food. The chemicals used for defoliation are derivatives of 2,4- dichlorophenoxyacetic acid (2,4-D) and 2, 4, 5- trichlorophenoxyacetic acid (2, 4, 5-T) as well as a compound known as picloram. The principal anti-crop chemical that has been used is sodium dimethyl- arsinate. These same compounds have previously been used with good results in many parts of the world for beneficial purposes such as selective weed control in agriculture and forest management. However, when used in war, herbicides are applied at concentrations much higher than generally used domestically, over larger contiguous areas, and under much less careful control to avoid damage to the civil economy, the ecology, and human health. In Vietnam, the use of 2, 4, 5-T has recently been suspended because of findings that this chemical and some of the impurities it contains cause birth defects when fed to pregnant laboratory animals. The large-scale military employ- ment of antiplant chemicals poses ecolo- gical and public health problems of which not very much is known but which might 26 A lethal dose of nerve gas here seen in solid form compared with a matchstick. Fifty per cent of people receiving this dose on the bare skin would die. be quite serious. Anti-plant chemicals could certainly be used in many conflicts as agents of starvation and economic warfare against the civil population. Because of the ease with which this tactic can be prac- tised, it could be difficult to stop once the precedent is set. Preventing CBW The most important international effort to prevent the use of chemical and bio- logical weapons is the Geneva Protocol of 1925. It prohibits "the use in war of asphyxiating, poisonous, or other gases, and of all analogous liquids, materials, or devices" and "the use of bacteriological methods of warfare". The second phrase is now interpreted as including all forms of biological warfare. More than 80 nations are now parties to the Geneva Protocol including all important military powers, all members of the Warsaw Pact, the People's Republic of China and all mem- bers of the North Atlantic Treaty Organ- ization except the United States. Ironically, although the United States instigated the Geneva Protocol and signed it in 1925, the Senate failed to approve the treaty when it was debated in 1926. Years later, the Protocol was returned to the White House where it still remains. Last year, however, President Nixon announced that he would submit the Protocol to the Senate anew, for its advice and consent to ratification. This submission is expected in the very near future. A technician places a rabbit in a storage shed for deadly nerve-gas. Rabbits react quickly if there are any leaks. D
Whether or not the Geneva Protocol prohibits the use in war of harassing gas and anti-plant chemicals is a subject of some dispute. Most nations that have declared their views have held that these agents are prohibited by the Protocol. Last winter, at the United Nations General Assembly, a group of twenty-one non- aligned nations co-sponsored a resolution holding that the Protocol prohibits the use in war of all chemical agents directed at men, animals or plants. The resolution was passed by a vote of eighty to three with thirty-six abstentions. Certainly, the Protocol is an important factor in maintaining the expectation that gas and germs will not be used in war. This expectation helps to prevent the proliferation of chemical weapons. Dis- sension regarding the meaning of the Protocol weakens its psychological effec- tiveness and endangers the utility of the Protocol as a clear standard for agreement among belligerants. It is not known whether the difference regarding harassing gases and anti-plant chemicals will be resolved. One possible mechanism would be a request to the International Court of Justice at the Hague for an advisory opinion. Such an opinion can be requested by the General Assembly of the United Nations. The moral and legal force of the Court could provide a rallying point for universal agreement on the scope of the Protocol. Beyond the Geneva Protocol which prohibits the use of CB weapons, the nations represented at the Conference of the Committee on Disarmament at Geneva have given high priority to chemical and biological disarmament proposals this year. As already mentioned, Great Britain has proposed a convention that would totally prohibit biological weapons. A group of socialist nations has introduced a convention that would include chemical disarmament as well. One of the main subjects of debate at the Geneva talks is whether or not it is advisable to attack the problem of biological disarmament separately from that of chemical disar- mament. Arguments over the scope of the Protocol, the separation of B from c weapons, and the provision of acceptable safeguards will present obstacles to the success of negotiations at Geneva. Never- theless, there are several approaches to chemical and biological disarmament that could lead to substantive agreements, especially if world public opinion makes itself felt. ■ < A flight of geese could carry diseases result- ing from bacteriological warfare over frontiers far from the original site of combat. 29 CRZ It \MAMA\ ■IIENN .r In Nigeria, the fight against yaws has been stepped up thanks to the financial support provided by Canadian students. around the world Sleeping-sickness in Africa Sleeping-sickness remains a danger in Afri- ca, where control of the disease involves considerable difficulties, particularly because of the continental dimensions of the problem, the large numbers of people exposed to the infection, and the lack of a single inexpensive method of mass control effective in all con- ditions. Seventy years have passed since the dis- covery of the infectious agent, the trypano- some, which is transmitted by the tsetse fly. Both wildlife and cattle constitute a huge reservoir of the infection. wHo has undertaken a project of opera- tional research in human and animal try- panosomiasis, as a result of the reappearance of the disease some years ago in epidemic proportions in western Kenya. FAO and the UN Development Programme are par- ticipating in the project. Aerial spraying with dieldrin in a trial area gave particularly encouraging results. Tsetse fly reduction was of the order of 99.9 per cent for up to 12 weeks, while even after 3 months 40-50 per cent effectiveness was recorded. Research is also continuing, and an inter- ministerial co-ordination committee has made valuable contributions to the success of the project. High-school crusade The students of Mount Royal High School in Quebec have set up an organization called SWAY (Students War Against Yaws); SWAY also means YAWS spelt backwards. Their aim is to gather funds for yaws control and so far wHo has received from this source more than $40,000 in eight years. A contagious, infectious disease of the tropics, yaws is characterized by strawberry- like skin lesions on the palms of the hands and soles of the feet, followed by destruction of muscle and bone tissue. Children are the chief victims. The disease can be cured with a simple injection of long-acting penicillin, and WHO, in the course of mass campaigns in 40-odd countries, has examined 150 million people and treated 45 million yaws victims. The Town Council of Mount Royal is supporting with pride the activities of its students, who are seeking this year $100,000 from a campaign in all high schools in Canada. City Hall was turned over to the students, who held there a 24-hour fast in order to draw as many sponsors as possible, who will pay them a certain amount for every hour of the fast. The Mayor of the town of Mount Royal has issued a proclamation in favour of the SWAY programme, and paid a warm tribute to the students for their successful and sus- tained efforts to help fight this cruel disease. Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau has also expressed his approval of the students' action. The hazards of X-ray equipment Sixty-five per cent of medical X-ray equip- ment surveyed by WHO in ten Eastern Medi- terranean countries has been found to lack one or more safety features. This is all the more alarming as diagnostic radiology is increasingly used and brings radiation hazards to ever larger populations. It is a well-recognized fact all over the world that X-ray diagnosis is at the present time by far the greatest contributor to popula- tion irradiation. Better training of doctors and technicians in the use of adequately shielded equipment can substantially reduce the hazard. WHO recently organized a seminar on radia- tion protection in Kuwait attended by senior radiologists, physicists and public health workers responsible for radiation safety in 15 countries of the Eastern Mediterranean region. Elephantiasis in Samoa In Western Samoa, which has a population of 135,000, a parasitic infestation known as filariasis is a serious health problem. It often results in hideous deformations of the limbs known as elephantiasis. Since 1965, with help from UNICEF and WHO, a campaign has been launched to determine the best method of attacking the disease. Plans called for treatment of the whole population for a period of twelve months with diethylcarba- mazine while studies were undertaken on the habits of the mosquito which carries the disease. Women's committees have been extremely active in this campaign and they were in charge of the mass distribution of the drug to the whole population under the supervision of district medical officers. Natural and technical difficulties have been encountered, and the objectives of the plan are far from fully attained. An important factor was the occurrence of a hurricane which disrupted drug distribution. The second round of treatment is planned to start soon, and WHO hopes that the experience gained will provide a pattern for filariasis control which can be adopted by other countries in the South Pacific area. Man and beast More than 100 serious diseases are trans- mitted to man by animals. The lack of veterinarians in developing countries is one of the most serious impediments in the fight against these infections. India, for example, has only 8,500 veterinarians. 30 Order form Please enter my subscription to World Health: 1 year: '* I enclose cheque/postal order in the amount of Name: Street : City : Country : * Subscriptions are entered for the calendar year Please complete, detach and mail this order form to the agent for WHO publications in your country. 2 years * 3 years * In that country, with its human population of 550 million, there are 175 million cattle plus 50 million buffalo, 100 million sheep and goats, and 1 million camels. In other words, India, with 2.4 per cent of the world's land area and approximately 14 per cent of the world's population, has about 20 per cent of the world's cattle and 60 per cent of its buffalo. Veterinary medicine is thus of considerable importance for India, where WHO recently held a seminar on Veterinary Public Health with the participation of senior medical and veterinary officers from Ceylon, India, Indo- nesia, Mongolia, Nepal and Thailand. The subjects discussed include diseases such as brucellosis and broad public health questions such as food contamination and milk hygiene. The aim of the seminar is to stimulate the establishment of veterinary public health services within the framework of the health services of the countries in South East Asia. The poisonous Rhine The deterioration of the environment has become a world-wide problem. Enormous amounts of pollutants are discharged into the air, the water and on the surface on which we live. Rivers continually bring into the ocean large amounts of persistent insecticides and heavy metals such as mercury and arsenic. The Rhine river, for instance, carries into the North Sea every month some 8,000 kilos of mercury, 90,000 kilos of arsenic and 900 kilos of insecticides. The need, as a matter of priority, for efficient control of all types of pollution has been recognized in Europe, and vvxo has adopted a ten-year programme, in co- operation with the various agencies con- cerned with pollution control. The pro- gramme will include control of water and air pollution, solid waste disposal, noise control, radiation protection and relevant professional training. ■ Photo-credits UN, front cover, pp. 2, 5 WHO/E. SCHWAB, back cover, pp. 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17 wHo/m. JACOT, pp. 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11 WHO/P. DAVIES, p. 17 WHO/E. MANDELMANN, p. 19 WHO/T. FARKAS, p. 20 FOA magazine (Sweden), p. 20 ASSOCIATED PRESS ©, pp. 21, 27 LEN SIRMAN PRESSE ©, pp. 23, 28, 29 WHO/P. ALMASY, p. 24 wHo/usts, p. 26 INTERAVIA ©, p. 27 WHO, p. 30 World Health-where to subscribe Afghanistan: See India, WHO Regional Office. Argentina: Editorial Sudamerica S.A., Humberto 1 0 545, Buenos Aires. 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