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agents at rates of more than an order of magnitude 39 greater than their
application rates for domestic use, with early application rate recommen-
dations being revised upward from an initial 1 gallon per acre to 3 gallons
per acre. It is estimated that an area representing more than 10 percent of
the land surface area (approximately 17,000 square kilometers) of South
Vietnam was sprayed with such agents, covering approximately 1 million
acres per annum between the beginning of the program in 1962 and its
termination in the early 1970s. Approximately 84 percent of agents were
disseminated for defoliation and approximately 14 percent for use in the
destruction of food crops. 40
Conclusion
From 1945 to the present day a number of nations have devoted consid-
erable resources to the development of BW in order to bring about the
destruction, for hostile purposes, of the plant resources of an adversary.
A recurring feature of the programs discussed above was their reliance
on agents selected for their capacity to bring about outbreaks of natu-
ral disease in some of the world's most important food crops. Fungal
plant pathogens that are prone to spread rapidly to epidemic proportions
within a single growing season were selected as agents of choice. It is ob-
viously of concern that new scientific and technological developments
in biotechnology may considerably enhance a nation's future ability to
wage this form of warfare.
Synthetic chemical anticrop plant growth regulators, midspectrum
agents considered both biological and chemical weapons agents, were
used on a massive scale in Southeast Asia in the destruction of ground
cover and food crops, and commentators have sounded a note of concern
regarding the current and future potential of such agents in the destruc-
tion of plant life. According to Malcolm Dando, “an attack on plants using
synthetic chemicals could be carried out today on the basis of a much
more systematic and effective knowledge base than that which under-
pinned the US program in Vietnam.” 41
With these capabilities in mind it is imperative that efforts be redoubled
to strengthen the international legal prohibitions relating to CBW so as
to minimize the risks posed by these potentially devastating forms of
warfare.
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