Still Falls the Rain

The notion that the people of Laos and Cambodia were attacked by their Vietnamese neighbours by means of a chemical toxin sprayed from aircraft had become a bit of a joke even before Dr Matthew Meselson turned it into pastiche [sic] by remarking that most of what appears to be yellow rain consists of the excrement of bees.  

The Parties to the Geneva Protocol bind themselves to accept a ban on the use in war of asphyxiating poisonous or other gases and of analogous liquids, materials and other devices an they extend that 

The Biological Weapons Convention places a total ban on the development, production, stockpiling and acquisition of types and quantities of biological agents or toxins other than those which can be justified for peaceful purposes. It does not ban research, nor does it define the quantities that are permissible. Article V of the BWC provides that the States Party to the Convention, undertake to consult one another and to co-operate in solving any problems which may arise in relation to the objective of, or in the application of the provisions of the Convention. . . The Article provides for both bilateral and international consultation, the latter to be within the framework of the United Nations. Article VI provides for complaints to be referred to the UN Security Council. Articles XI and XII provide respectively for amendment to and review of the Convention. 

During the course of 1979 the US made further demarches concerning the reports and began to interview Hmong refugees. At 

At the same time, the administration was trying to persuade a reluctant Congress to appropriate funds for the modernisation of the US s own chemical weapons. The propaganda value of the CW allegations was noted. Chairman Clement J. Zablocki warned a Foreign Affairs sub-committee hearing. I am concerned over what may be a conscious effort on the part of some to exploit a suspected situation in various areas of the world in an attempt to induce the United States into the resumption of chemical warfare activity .  

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For those interested in such things, the quotations in the chapter headings are taken from Rudyard Kipling (Tommy Atkins, Danegeld), Herbert Read (Beata I Alma), Winston S. Churchill, Edmund Blunden (Report on Experience), Dame Edith Sitwell (Still Falls the Rain T e Raids 1940, Night and Dawn), I.V. Lenin (attrib.), W.H. Auden (In Memory of W.B. Yeats), Cecil Day Lewis (Will it be so again ). 

Land formed very early due to eruptions from the hot mantle, which here and there upset equilibria and temperature locally for relatively short periods. Owing to the motion of the Earth, the Sun s radiation fell, and still falls (unevenly) on Earth causing air circulation which carries rain water and which, on precipitation, erodes the land so that fine deposits developed close to the sea. At the same time, there is the slower movements of the underlying mantle giving rise to both chemical and physical changes. 

The purify of the water changes constantly during the water cycle. As rain falls through the air, for example, the water dissolves some atmospheric gases such as oxygen, carbon dioxide, and in industrial regions also such air pollutants as sulfur dioxide and oxides of nitrogen. Still more carbon dioxide... 

Neem works fastest during hot weather, so expect results within a few days in summer spring and fall applications may take longer. Heavy rain within a few days after the application may wash the spray off the leaves reapply if pests are still a problem. 

From a technical and economic viewpoint, COCONUT is still, in 1984, the only viable medium term strategy for most industrial nations. However, there are two other factors which have arisen to complicate the issue. One is public concern over the safety of nuclear power and the disposal of radioactive waste. The other is similar public concern over acid rain and the so-called "greenhouse effect caused by the build-up of CO2 in the stratosphere both of these undesirable effects have been ascribed to the burning of fossil fuels. These concerns are the subject of extensive public debate and professional evaluation at present and it is not profitable to speculate on the outcome[6]. Clearly, conservation alone is an inadequate strategy and the renewables will be continuously monitored and reassessed in the light of additional financial burdens which may fall on nuclear power and coal-burning to produce technical solutions which satisfy the public as regards safety and environmental issues. 

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