Part 1, U.S. Government Practices Germ Warfare on U.S. Population ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
GARY NULL: ..... also would say that they would go to Argentina, and they would work with farm workers, and they would allow people to consume milk without any evidence that it was safe. No one can verify that something is going to be safe in everyone who consumes something when you have no long-term studies. Why wasn't it done in America? And how do we know that other organizations have not done tests on Americans? And what groups or populations do they choose? Not once was there any comment, editorially, in any of the media -- that I'm aware of, at least -- that questioned the idea that you could take a group of people: South Americans, a sub-group: farmers, and use them as human guinea pigs.
Now think for a moment, just on a moral level. Do we have the right to assume that a minority person from another country is any less valuable, as a human being, than an American? That's for each of you to decide for yourself. From my perspective, I think it's important to respect all life, and therefore, I couldn't imagine doing an experiment on a Mongolian child or a Sudanese family -- and not because the world wouldn't know what I had done, but because they are part of the human spirit. But that wasn't questioned!
And Secondly, what do we know about the Wistar Institute? If it had done THIS deed -- and it did, indeed, do this deed -- then what else has it done? What other politics has it engaged in? The fact that it was associated with the Pan American Health Organization is VERY serious for me because I remember, long before this episode, finding that the Pan American Health Organization and one of its individuals had made a very, very aggressive and assertive effort to destroy the reputation, the background and the credibility of one Doctor Lawrence Burton of the Bahamas. And it was upon the recommendation of that Pan American Health Organization -- claiming that Burton's therapy didn't work and that they had come in and investigated his work -- that the Bahamian Government was willing to, in effect, close down Burton's clinic. I remember writing extensively -- after I went down to the Bahamas, and followed up on THEIR work, and interviewed people from their organization -- that they had done sloppy work. And their work was unscientific, when it concerned Burton, and it should never have been given credibility. I considered it scandalous. And I wrote about it. And I wrote about the people involved.
But, here they were, going along with the Wistar Institute. And no one asked: Who is on their [Wistar's] board of directors? What other organizations are they involved with? What other boards are THEIR board members associated with? No one wanted to track it back. And no one did.
Now in the United States, concern over the moral implications of this experiment also was questioned, particularly since a large portion of the funding for the development of the vaccine was provided by the Federal Government. Now, according to the New York Times:
(quote) "Federal officials and scientists in the United States said it raised questions about the adequacy of a new Reagan Administration program to regulate products of bio-technology research." (unquote)
What is especially disturbing about the incident of Wistar's insistence that it had not done anything wrong was:
(quote) "because Argentina has no rules governing the bio-technology industry, and the United States rules did not apply." (unquote)
Now think of that for a moment. Just think of that. Because a country has no rules governing bio-technology, and we do, that is to assume that those rules, which we have held are important here (for obvious reasons), wouldn't apply to another country? I'm sure if you went to Bali, you wouldn't find any rules on bio-technology. Does that mean that you should go there and test the subjects of that country? Of course not! Who ARE these people at Wistar? Why aren't they investigated? Why hasn't 60 MINUTES done a piece? Why hasn't 20/20 done a piece on them? I think it's reprehensible journalism, when there are so many red flags, and this kind of logic is used, and it is not followed through on.
While commenting on the Wistar Institute's conduct in the matter, the New York Times cites Doctor David Kingsbury[sp], Assistant Director of the National Science Foundation, who was instrumental in the creation of the current regulations governing the testing of genetically-engineered products. He said:
(quote) "I'm not bothered by the idea of the United States Research Institute and companies going abroad for testing. But I am appalled that they did it without the knowledge of that country. Given the volatility and concern on this issue, you just don't do things like that." (unquote)
I would challenge Doctor Kingsbury. I find it appalling that we would assume that we could go abroad to do testing if other countries don't have the knowledge of the conseqeunces of testing. If they had been given an opportunity to determine the pros and cons, then, fine. Let someone test. But what if they are innocent in not knowing anything about what's being done.
Nor was the Wistar Institute the only party involved to see this done, and in using obscure loopholes. The National Institutes of Health, which provided Government funds for the development of the vaccine, denied any responsibility for the failure to properly oversee the experiment
(quote) "because the actual trial itself did not use Government money." (unquote)
That was according to Warren Leary on a report titled "Argentines Report Infection by Altered Farm Virus" on January 22, 1988. That was later. (to be continued only if someone will volunteer to post to Usenet the remaining episodes of this series, which I will e-mail to that volunteer.) John DiNardo jad@blythe.org * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
If you agree that this information is vital to the defense and the preservation of our free society, please assist in its dissemination by posting it to computer bulletin boards and by posting hardcopies in public places, both on and off campus. The Usenet newsgroup alt.bbs.lists provides dial-in numbers of BBSs.
John DiNardo
This INFO was taken off of:
Prowler's DOMAIN
1.7+ Gigabytes/4 phone lines