TRIP REPORT

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP87R00029R000400800009-9
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 3
• Document Creation Date: December 22, 2016
• Document Release Date: February 1, 2010
• Sequence Number: 9
• Publication Date: August 24, 1982
• Content Type: MEMO

Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2010/02/01 : CIA-RDP87R00029R000400800009-9
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SGMI-SA
Subject: Trip Report
Prepared by: Sharon A. Watson, USAMIIA
1. Itinerary and Purpose of Trig:
24 August 1982
The primary purpose of the trip was to present a 30-minute, scientific paper
on Yellow Rain at a joint meeting of the American Society of Pharmacology and
Experimental Therapeutics and the Society of Toxicology. The presentation was
requested by these scientists. as part of a Special Symposium entitled, "Current
Concerns in Environmental Pharmacology and Toxicology." A secondary purpose
for the trip was to meet with participants in the International Symposium on
Mycotoxins and Phycotoxins which will be held in September in Vienna, Austria,
and prepare our presentation for that meeting.
2. Significant Actions and Details of TDY:
a. Sunda :
I met Dr. Mirocha's plane at the Louisville Airport, and after a quick
lunch, we got to work on the paper for Vienna. Since the paper to be given there is
limited to ten minutes, it was necessary to do an extensive rewrite on the 30
minute paper that we were presenting at the Louisville meeting. I explained to Dr.
Mirocha the necessity of getting the paper cleared through channels prior to its
presentation or publication. By that evening, we had put together the final draft.
This paper will be the basis of Dr. Mirocha's presentation in Vienna and will also be
published in the Journal of the Association of Official Analytical Chemists. It
emphasizes the chemical analysis of the samples, while the presentation I planned
to give in Louisville contained much more toxicological data and background
information. The Louisville presentation will also be published in the journal,
Federation Proceedin&s. Dr. Mirocha and I felt that the publication of both papers
was advisable. Even though there is some overlap in the data, the emphasis of the
two papers is entirely different and both are required to tell the entire story.
Journals such as 3OAC are reluctant to publish a lot of toxicological data, but will
publish the entire GC-MS spectra and other analytical details. On the other hand,
Federation Proceedings will publish the toxicological data, but doesn't like to
include all of the spectra and other details. Because of the criticism we have
received at Congressional Hearings concerning the allegation that the data has not
been fully presented to the scientific community, we both felt that the best course
of action would be publication of two papers. Both papers are now in final draft
and will be cleared through all appropriate channels before release.
Dr. Mirocha and I also discussed at length the problems remaining with
sample transfer and analysis and worked out some solutions. He updated me on the
analyses in progress and on his experimental work with the toxins in animals.
b. Monte:
The presentation went smoothly and was very well received. The
symposium was held in a room which could seat approximately 450. The room was
filled and many scientists were standing along the walls and aisles, so the audience
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was probably around 500. There were no press. Applause following the presenta-
tion was particularly generous. Questions following the paper were limited
(because another meeting was scheduled and we had to vacate the room); however,
I was literally mobbed outside after the meeting and discussions were lively. Most
of the comments were "excellent paper," "impressive study," etc. There was a
great deal of concern over what was being done to stop the attacks and over the
fact that a treaty apparently had been violated. No skepticism was encountered,
although many of the scientists said that then a mi is v been extreme v
s -e ticaTand had t taken the c~zarges seriousl . Some indicated-that t e a a
resented at the me tin chap e t eir m.zn s an that t e now agreed iat we
ha cone usive proof that the trio at
ecenes were components of Yellau?Irtain.
This meeting was primarily attended by American scientists, but there
were quite a few foreign attendees. Representatives were there from England, the
Netherlands, West Germany, France, Japan, Egypt, and China. Many interesting
papers were presented, particularly in the areas of neuropharmacology and
cholinergic pharmacology. Monday afternoon and Tuesday morning I attended a
number of papers in those areas as well as an extremely interesting special
symposium on Cyanide poisoning. Dr. N. P. Weger from West Germany presented a
very informative paper concerned with therapy of cyanide poisoning with DMAP.
Dr. W. G. J. Hol of the Netherlands also presented at this symposium.
Abstracts of the papers which I found to be particulary interesting are
3. Conclusions and Recommended Follow-up Actions.
In summary, the trip provided the opportunity for the first time to fully
present the Yellow Rain story to the American scientific community. It provided
the opl" )rtunity for those scientists to examine the data and form their own
conclusions. The immediate feedback that I received at the meetin was deep
concern and ov he mzn su ort o our cone usians. The se.17171is -ora-tawas
acce to as convincin and ~l