Document D494ryXn4ameebNYynjoEMmQ

Me Rae direct 109 1 that 2,4,5-T contained dioxin? 2 A. Mo. ' 3 Q . In your conversations with General 4 Hous-ewright, do you recall him telling you that 5 2,4,5-T contained dioxin? 6 A. No. As I said, the matter was brought to my 7 attention by a member of the Science Advisory 8 Committee as a result of some research which was 9 done at Harvard, as I recall. 10 Q. You can't recall the name of the member 11 of the Science Advisory Comm ittee, can you? 12 A. No, I don't remember which one. 13 Q. But you recall that that member was 14 surprised when he passed that information along to 15 you. Is that correct? 16 A. He was surprised, that's right. '17 Q. Why was he surprised if you know? 18 MS. MINTZER: Objection. 19 A. I imagine because that was something new to him 2 0' and he hadn't anticipa ted- that it would have dioxin 21 in it . 22 Q. Do you recall approximately when he 23 conveyed that information to you? 24 A. No. I think it was -- no, I don't know any 25 more specifically than I've stated. < < * p r M r t A l l i _ .i:< : _i -.u -- i u _i .u -.. T McRae -direct 11C 1 Q . That was late in your tenure at the 2 Office of Science and Technology? 3 A. It was sort of the middle part of that period. 4 The middle part of it would be more accurate a 5 statement. 5 Q. You left the Office of Science and 7 Technology in 1972? 8 A. Yes. 9 Q. If Dr. Minar.ick dr General Delmore or Dr. 10 McNamara or General Housewright had informed you 11 that 2,4,5-T contained dioxin and that it was a 12 potential health hazard, would that have been an 13 issue of consequence to the President? 14 MS. MINTZER: Objection. You can answer. 15 A. It's an issue I would have looked at with some 16' care if I had known the facts about dioxin, yes. 17 Q. Did you look at that issue during the 18 period 1962 to 1969, the issue of dioxin in 2,4,5-T? 19 A. The issue was examined by lots of people during 20 that time as I recall, yes. 21 Q . When did that examination occur? 2 2 MS. MINTZER: Objection. 23 A. It occurred right after people discovered that 24 it was there. 25 Q. Do you recall when that discovery u. i4 ^ _ _ _4t _ _ 1 Me Ra e direct 111 1 happened? 2 A. X said it was sort of the middle of that period. 3 My guess was around 1966 , 1967, something like that, 4 but I'm not sure of that date. 5 Q. On direct examination you were handed 5 what has been previously marked as Deposition 7 Exhibit 4 in an attempt to refresh your recollection B concerning the Bionetics report. Do you recall the 9 Bionetics report? 10 A Vag ue 1y . 11 Q. Do you recall approximately, when yo,u 12 heard about the Bionetics report? 13 A. During the time of the ad hoc committee as I 14 recall. 15 Q. When was that? 16 A. It was in '69 as the document shows. 17 ' Q . Exhibit 4 states, "The actions to control 18 the use of the chemical were taken as a result of 19 findings from the laboratory study conducted by the 20 Bionetics Research Laboratories." Did you learn 21 about dioxin in 2,4,5-T from the Bionetics report? 22 M R . WHITE: Objection. 23 A. I don't recall the contents, the specific 24 contents of that report, and I'd rather not comment 25 on it.