AAAS:
Commending U.S. Government Phase-Out of Herbicides in Vietnam

Whereas the AAAS has previously expressed its concern to the United States Government regarding the health-related and ecological consequences of the use of defoliants in Vietnam, and

Whereas there is now strong evidence that the antiplant chemicals used for defoliation and crop destruction in Vietnam have seriously damaged the ecology of that country and may be a serious threat to the health of the Vietnamese people and particularly to the health, livelihood, and social structure of Vietnam's hill tribes (Montagnards), and

Whereas the Department of Defense last April 15, 1970, issued an order to end the spraying of agent Orange because of its proven toxicity to experimental animals, and

Whereas the consequences of the use of agents Blue and White, still authorized and in massive use in Indochina, are not known,

Therefore be it resolved: That the Council of the AAAS commends the United State Government for its intention announced on December 26, 1970, rapidly to phase out the use of all herbicides in Vietnam and recommends their immediate discontinuation in Indochina.

[Adopted by the AAAS Council, December 30, 1970.]