AIDS: a U.S.-made monster?
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 PREFACE In an extensive article in the Summer-Autumn 1990 issue of
"Top Secret", Prof J. Segal and Dr. L. Segal outline their theory that AIDS is
a man-made disease, originating at Pentagon bacteriological warfare labs
at Fort Detrick, Maryland. Top Secret is the international edition of the
German magazine Geheim and is considered by many to be a sister
publication to the American Covert Action Information Bulletin (CAIB). In
fact, Top Secret carries the Naming Names column, which CAIB is
prevented from doing by the American government, and which names CIA
agents in different locations in the world. The article, named "AIDS:
US-Made Monster" and subtitled "AIDS - its Nature and its Origins," is
lengthy, has a lot of professional terminology and is dotted with
footnotes. The following is my humble attempt to encapsulate its
highlights. It is recommended that all interested read the original, which
is available at some bookstores, or can be ordered for $3.50 from: 

Top Secret/Geheim Magazine P.O.Box 270324 5000 Koln 1 Germany 

 AIDS FACTS "The fatal weakening of the immune system which has given
AIDS its name (Acquired Immuno-Deficiency Syndrome)," write the Segals,
"has been traced back to a destruction or a functional failure of the
T4-lymphocytes, also called 'helper cells`, which play a regulatory role in
the production of antibodies in the immune system." In the course of the
illness, the number of functional T4- cells is reduced greatly so that new
anti-bodies cannot be produced and the defenseless patient remains
exposed to a range of infections that under other circumstances would
have been harmless. Most AIDS patients die from opportunistic infections
rather than from the AIDS virus itself. 

The initial infection is characterized by diarrhea, erysipelas and
intermittent fever. An apparent recovery follows after 2-3 weeks, and in
many cases the patient remains without symptoms and functions normally
for years. Occasionally a swelling of the lymph glands, which does not
affect the patient's well-being, can be observed. 

After several years, the pre-AIDS stage, known as ARC (Aids- Related
Complex) sets in. This stage includes disorders in the digestive tract,
kidneys and lungs. In most cases it develops into full-blown AIDS in about
a year, at which point opportunistic illnesses occur. Parallel to this
syndrome, disorders in various organ systems occur, the most severe in
the brain, the symptoms of which range from motoric disorders to severe
dementia and death. 

This set of symptoms, say the Segals, is identical in every detail with the
Visna sickness which occurs in sheep, mainly in Iceland. (Visna means
tiredness in Icelandic). However, the visna virus is not pathogenic for
human beings. 

The Segals note that despite the fact that AIDS is transmitted only
through sexual intercourse, blood transfusions and non- sterile hypodermic
needles, the infection has spread dramatically. During the first few years
after its discovery, the number of AIDS patients doubled every six months,
and is still doubling every 12 months now though numerous measures have
been taken against it. Based on these figures, it is estimated that in the
US, which had 120,000 cases of AIDS at the end of 1988, 900,000 people
will have AIDS or will have died of it by the end of 1991. It is also
estimated that the number of people infected is at least ten times the
number of those suffering from an acute case of AIDS. That in the year
1995 there will be between 10-14 million cases of AIDS and an additional
100 million people infected, 80 percent of them in the US, while a possible
vaccination will not be available before 1995 by the most optimistic
estimates. Even when such vaccination becomes available, it will not help
those already infected. These and following figures have been reached at
by several different mainstream sources, such as the US Surgeon General
and the Chief of the medical services of the US Army. 

Say the Segals: "AIDS does not merely bring certain dangers with it; it is
clearly a programmed catastrophe for the human race, whose magnitude is
comparable only with that of a nuclear war." They later explain what they
mean by "programmed," showing that the virus was produced by humans,
namely Dr. Robert Gallo of the Bethesda Cancer Research Center in
Maryland. When proceeding to prove their claims, the Segals are careful to
note that: "We have given preference to the investigative results of highly
renowned laboratories, whose objective contents cannot be doubted. We
must emphasize, in this connection, that we do not know of any findings
that have been published in professional journals that contradict our
hypotheses." 

 DISCOVERING AIDS The first KNOWN cases of AIDS occurred in New York in
1979. The first DESCRIBED cases were in California in 1979. The virus was
isolated in Paris in May 1983, taken from a French homosexual who had
returned home ill from a trip to the East Coast of the US. One year later,
Robert Gallo and his co-workers at the Bethesda Cancer Research Center
published their discovery of the same virus, which is cytotoxic, i.e
poisonous to cells. 

Shortly after publishing his discovery, Gallo stated to newspapers that the
virus had developed by a natural process from the Human Adult Leukemia
virus, HTLV-1, which he had previously discovered. However, this claim
was not published in professional publications, and soon after, Alizon and
Montagnier, two researchers of the Pasteur Institute in Paris published
charts of HTLV-1 and HIV, showing that the viruses had basically different
structures. They also declared categorically that they knew of no natural
process by which one of these two forms could have evolved into the other. 

According to the professional "science" magazine, the fall 1984 annual
meeting of the American Association for the Advancement of Science
(AAAS), was almost entirely devoted to the question of: to what extent
new pathogenic agents could be produced via human manipulation of genes.
According to the Segals, AIDS was practically the sole topic of discussion. 

THE AIDS VIRUS The Segals discuss the findings of Gonda et al, who
compared the HIV, visna and other closely-related viruses and found that
the visna virus is the most similar to HIV. The two were, in fact, 60%
identical in 1986. According to findings of the Hahn group, the mutation
rate of the HIV virus was about a million times higher than that of similar
viruses, and that on the average a 10% alteration took place every two
years. That would mean that in 1984, the difference between HIV and visna
would have been only 30%, in 1982- 20%, 10% in 1980 and zero in 1978.
"This means," say the Segals, "that at this time visna viruses changed into
HIV, receiving at the same time the ability to become parasites in human
T4-cells and the high genetic instability that is not known in other
retroviruses. This is also consistent with the fact that the first cases of
AIDS appeared about one year later, in the spring of 1979." 

"In his comparison of the genomes of visna and HIV," add the Segals,
"Coffin hit upon a remarkable feature. The env (envelope) area of the HIV
genome, which encodes the envelope proteins which help the virus to
attach itself to the host cell, is about 300 nucleotides longer than the
same area in visna. This behavior suggests that an additional piece has
been inserted into the genomes of the visna virus, a piece that alters the
envelope proteins and enables them to bind themselves to the
T4-receptors. BUT THIS SECTION BEHAVES LIKE A BIOLOGICALLY ALIEN
BODY,  which does not match the rest of the system biochemically.
(emphasis mine) 

The above mentioned work by Gonda et al shows that the HIV virus has a
section of about 300 nucleotides, which does not exist in the visna virus.
That length corresponds with what Coffin described. That section is
particularly unstable, which indicates that it is an alien object. According
to the Segals, it "originates in an HTLV-1 genome, (discovered by Gallo-ED)
for the likelihood of an accidental occurrence in HIV of a genome sequence
60% identical with a section of the HTLV-1 that is 300 nucleotides in
length is zero." Since the visna virus is incapable of attaching itself to
human T4 receptors, it must have been the transfer of the HTLV-1 genome
section which gave visna the capability to do so. In other words, the
addition of HTLV-1 to visna made the HIV virus. In addition, the high
mutation rate of the HIV genome has been explained by another scientific
team, Chandra et al, by the fact that it is "a combination of two genome
parts which are alien to each other BY ARTIFICIAL MEANS rather than by a
natural process of evolution, because this process would have immediately
eliminated, through natural selection, systems that are so replete with
disorders." 

"These are the facts of the case," say the Segals.  "HIV is essentially a
visna virus which carries an additional protein monomer of HTLV-1 that
has an epitope capable of bonding with T4 receptors. Neither Alizon and
Montagnier nor any other biologist know of any natural mechanism that
would make it possible for the epitope to be transferred from HTLV-1 to
the visna virus. For this reason we can come to only one conclusion: that
this gene combination arose by artificial means, through gene
manipulation." 

"THE CONSTRUCTION OF HIV" "The construction of a recombinant virus by
means of gene manipulation is extraordinarily expensive, and it requires a
large number of highly qualified personnel, complicated equipment and
expensive high security laboratories. Moreover, the product would have no
commercial value. Who, then," ask the Segals, "would have provided the
resources for a type of research that was aimed solely at the production
of a new disease that would be deadly to human beings?" 

 The English sociologist Allistair Hay (as well as Paxman et al  in "A
Higher Form of Killing"-ED), published a document whose   authenticity has
been confirmed by the US Congress, showing that a representative of the
Pentagon requested in 1969 additional   funding for biological warfare
research. The intention was to   create, within the next ten years, a new
virus that would not be susceptible to the immune system, so that the
afflicted patient  would not be able to develop any defense against it. Ten
years later, in the spring of 1979, the first cases of AIDS appeared in New
York. 

"Thus began a phase of frantic experimentation," say the Segals. 

One group was working on trying to cause animal pathogens to   adapt
themselves to life in human beings. This was done under the cover of
searching for a cure for cancer. The race was won by   Gallo, who described
his findings in 1975. A year later, Gallo   described gene manipulations he
was conducting. In 1980 he published his discovery of HTLV. 

In the fall of 1977, a P4 (highest security category of laboratory, in which
human pathogens are subjected to genetic   manipulations) laboratory was
officially opened in building 550   of Fort Detrick, MD, the Pentagon's main
biological warfare   research center. "In an article in 'Der Spiegel`, Prof.
Mollings point out that this type of gene manipulation was still extremely
difficult in 1977. One would have had to have a genius as great as Robert
Gallo for this purpose, note the Segals." 

Lo and behold. In a supposed compliance with the international   accord
banning the research, production and storage of biological  weapons, part
of Fort Detrick was "demilitarized" and the virus  section renamed the
"Frederick Cancer Research Facility". It was  put under the direction of the
Cancer Research Institute in   neighboring Bethesda, whose director was
no other than Robert   Gallo. This happened in 1975, the year Gallo
discovered HTLV. Explaining how the virus escaped, the Segals note that in
the US,  biological agents are traditionally tested on prisoners who are 
incarcerated for long periods, and who are promised freedom if   they
survive the test. However, the initial HIV infection   symptoms are mild
and followed by a seemingly healthy patient. 

"Those who conducted the research must have concluded that the new virus
was...not so virulent that it could be considered for  military use, and the
test patients, who had seemingly recovered,  were given their freedom.
Most of the patients were professional  criminals and New York City,
which is relatively close, offered them a suitable milieu. Moreover, the
patients were exclusively men, many of them having a history of
homosexuality and drug abuse, as is often the case in American prisons.
1111 

It is understandable why AIDS broke out precisely in 1979, precisely
among men and among drug users, and precisely in New York City," assert
the Segals. They go on to explain that whereas in cases of infection by
means of sexual contact, incubation periods are two  years and more,
while in cases of massive infection via blood  transfusions, as must have
been the case with prisoners, incubation periods are shorter than a year.
"Thus, if the new virus was ready at the beginning of 1978 and if the
experiments  began without too much  delay, then the first cases of full-
blown  AIDS in 1979 were  exactly the result that could have been 
expected." 

In the next three lengthy chapters, the Segals examine other   theories,
"legends" as they call them, of the origins of AIDS.   Dissecting each claim,
they show that they have no scientific   standing, providing also the
findings of other scientists. They   also bring up the arguments of
scientists and popular writers who have been at the task of discounting
them as "conspiracy theorists" and show these writers' shortcomings.
Interested readers will have to read the original article to follow those
debates. I will only quote two more paragraphs: 

"We often heard the argument that experiments with human volunteers are
part of a barbaric past, and that they would be   impossible in the US
today... We wish to present one single   document whose authenticity is
beyond doubt. An investigative   commission of the US House of
Representatives presented in October 1986 a final report concerning the
Manhattan Project. According to this document, between 1945 and 1975 at
least 695   American citizens were exposed to dangerous doses of
radioactivity. Some of them were prisoners who had volunteered,   but they
also included residents of old-age homes, inmates of insane asylums,
handicapped people in nursing homes, and even   normal patients in public
hospitals; most of them were subjected to these experiments without
their permission. Thus the 'barbaric  past` is not really a thing of the past." 

"It is remarkable that most of these experiments were carried out in
university institutes and federal hospitals, all of which are named in the
report. Nonetheless, these facts remained secret until 1984, and even then
a Congressional committee that was equipped with all the necessary
authorization needed two years in order to bring these facts to life. We are
often asked how the work on the AIDS virus could have been kept secret.
Now, experiments performed on a few dozen prisoners in a laboratory that
is subject to military security can be far more easily kept secret than
could be the Manhattan Project."