Soviet Use of Spy Dust in U.S. Termed Likely

The State Department believes it is “highly probable” that the chemical powder allegedly used by the Soviet Union to trace the movements of U.S. diplomats in Moscow was used at least once by Soviet agents in the United States, a congressman said today.

“There are indications it has been used outside Moscow, in the United States,” said Rep. Daniel A. Mica (D-Fla.), chairman of the House Foreign Affairs international operations subcommittee. “I have been told there is one highly possible use in the United States.”

But Mica told a news conference that a briefing by the State Department did not give him any details of where and when the tracking chemical, nitrophenylpentadiene (NPPD), may have been used in the United States and for what purpose. He said there is no evidence that any U.S. agency has ever used it.

Danger for Users

Mica also said preliminary medical findings are that the use of the yellow-orange powder may have placed Soviet agents at a greater health risk than the Americans who were their targets.

And he said the only reason the United States discovered this spring that the Soviets had begun to use the tracking substance heavily in Moscow was that the Soviets “made a mistake” and applied so much of the chemical at an unidentified site that the powder became visible.

Mica said he was told by Dr. Charles Brodine, the State Department’s chief medical adviser, that there is a “very low probability” the health of any U.S. personnel in Moscow has been adversely affected by ingesting or inhaling the substance, or by absorbing it through the skin.

Exposure to Spray

“The bad news is that the individuals at highest risk would be the Soviet agents that have been applying this substance, apparently in the form of an aerosol,” Mica said. “It’s ironic, but spraying it around and taking it into the lungs could place them at the highest risk of all.”

Mica said the United States plans a short-term test of the health effects of the substance on laboratory animals, including mice.

He said a long-term test, which would take at least two years to complete, might be ordered, depending on the results of the preliminary testing.

Mica said a crash program has been ordered to find out how to remove the substance from automobiles, desks, typewriters, clothing and other places where it might have been sprayed.

“What it is put on, it tends to stick on,” he said. “The problem is that this substance sticks very well.”

Change in Properties

Americans in Moscow were told earlier today that the chemical probably loses its cell-mutating properties if absorbed into the body.

Dr. Ernest McConnell, whose team is in Moscow investigating the health effects of the chemical, said that in its normal form NPPD is mutagenic, meaning it can change the structure of cells. Mutagens can, but do not always, cause cancer in humans.

But he said the chemical is “highly reactive” and is thus unlikely to be absorbed by the body without any changes. Scientists believe it is poorly absorbed and probably changes into other compounds that they suspect are not mutagenic, McConnell said.