Mr. President. in recent weeks two disturbing articles have appeared in the American press on the possibility that military defoliants widely used in Vietnam by American military forces have contributed to the deaths of innocent Vietnamese. On December 31. 1970. an account appeared in the Los Angeles Times which indicated that "90 infants and young children reportedly died in a 4month period in a Montagnard refugee hamlet in South Vietnam that had been sprayed with a defoliant." On January 28. 1971. a more comprehensive article on the same incident appeared in the Village Voice of New York City. Both accounts were written by Los Angeles Times Correspondent Bryce Nelson and are based on information stemming from the Herbicide Assessment Commission of the American Association for the Advancement of Science. Mr.