 |
|
© Photo: en.wikipedia.org
|
Jan 12, 2014 | The Voice of Russia
In the early 1960s the US army reportedly conducted field experiments in biological warfare, on the Japanese island of Okinawa, which could have harmed rice crops.
The same experiments were also conducted on the US mainland and in Taiwan, Kyodo news agency reported, citing US military documents it said it had obtained.
The US is "believed to have had China and Southeast Asia in mind in developing such crop-harming agents", the report stated.
In
the tests, conducted at least a dozen times between 1961 and 1962, rice
blast fungus was released over rice fields and data was collected on
how it affected rice production, Kyodo said, citing the documents.
Rice blast disease causes lesions to form on the plant, threatening the crop. The fungus, which is known to occur in 85 countries, is estimated to destroy enough rice to feed 60 million people each year.
The US government decided in 1969 to discard all biological weapons in its possession, Kyodo said.
In 1975, an international convention against the production and possession of biological weapons came into force.
Okinawa was under post-World War II US rule until 1972.
The
US government has previously disclosed information about chemical and
biological warfare tests at sea and on land in such places as Puerto
Rico, Hawaii and Utah.
The documents obtained mention
test sites including Nago and Shuri, both in Okinawa, it is not known
though whether the experiments were conducted within US bases there,
Kyodo said.
In the field tests, the army "used a midget
duster to release inoculum alongside fields in Okinawa and Taiwan,"
measuring dosages at different distances and the effect on crop
production, the documents said.
A separate document said, "Field tests for stem rust of wheat and rice blast disease were begun at several sites in the (US) midwest and south and in Okinawa with partial success in the accumulation of useful data," according to Kyodo.
Voice of Russia, AFP
No comments:
Post a Comment