Thursday May 25 11:47 AM ET HIV-Tainted Blood: a Biological Warfare Weapon JOHANNESBURG (Reuters) - The head of apartheid South Africa's biological warfare program stored HIV-infected blood for use against an opponent of white rule, a court heard. Dr. Mike Odendaal, a bacteriologist who used to work for a laboratory linked to the apartheid defense force, testified Wednesday that he had received a small flask of HIV-infected blood from his boss, laboratory director Dr Andre Immelman, and was told to freeze-dry it, South Africa's Press Association reported. Immelman had told Odendaal that heart surgeon Wouter Basson, nicknamed ``Dr. Death'', had ordered the blood, drawn from an Aids patient, and that it would be given to political opponents. HIV, the human immuno-deficiency virus, causes the deadly Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome, AIDS, which kills an average of 10 years after infection. Speak your mind Discuss this story with other people. [Start a Conversation] (Requires Yahoo! Messenger) Basson, who has pleaded not guilty to 61 charges of murder, fraud and drug peddling during his work for the apartheid regime faces life imprisonment if convicted. The trail has so far heard gruesome testimony from several of Basson's former operatives and colleagues, including allegations concerning the mass murder of black freedom fighters by injecting them with muscle relaxants and dumping their bodies from a cargo plane into the sea off Namibia's Skeleton Coast. Weapons attributed to Basson also include cigarettes laced with anthrax and James Bond-style gadgets such as screwdrivers concealing hypodermic needles. He is also alleged to have evaluated the murderous potential of water and whisky tainted with botulinum, one of the most toxic substances on earth. Cross examining Odendaal on Wednesday, Basson's defense counsel Jaap Cilliers said he found absurd the suggestion that one would ``grab the enemy, inject him with the infected blood, and he would only die 14 years later''. ``I suppose that is what one can call long-term planning,'' Cilliers told the court, SAPA reported. Basson, currently free on bail, works as a cardiologist at a Pretoria military hospital. Patients have told local newspapers what a good doctor he is. Wednesday, 24 May 2000 11:44:47 ENDS nL24140641 <A HREF="http://www.ctrl.org/">www.ctrl.org</A> DECLARATION & DISCLAIMER ========== CTRL is a discussion & informational exchange list. Proselytizing propagandic screeds are unwelcomed. Substance�not soap-boxing�please! These are sordid matters and 'conspiracy theory'�with its many half-truths, misdirections and outright frauds�is used politically by different groups with major and minor effects spread throughout the spectrum of time and thought. That being said, CTRL gives no endorsement to the validity of posts, and always suggests to readers; be wary of what you read. CTRL gives no credence to Holocaust denial and nazi's need not apply. Let us please be civil and as always, Caveat Lector. ======================================================================== Archives Available at: http://home.ease.lsoft.com/archives/CTRL.html <A HREF="http://home.ease.lsoft.com/archives/ctrl.html">Archives of [EMAIL PROTECTED]</A> http:[EMAIL PROTECTED]/ <A HREF="http:[EMAIL PROTECTED]/">ctrl</A> ======================================================================== To subscribe to Conspiracy Theory Research List[CTRL] send email: SUBSCRIBE CTRL [to:] [EMAIL PROTECTED] To UNsubscribe to Conspiracy Theory Research List[CTRL] send email: SIGNOFF CTRL [to:] [EMAIL PROTECTED] Om
