>from: [EMAIL PROTECTED] >subject: US biological aggression > Copyright -Granma International DIGITAL EDITION. La Havana. Cuba > ni las abejas.... > Not even the bees > >BY MIREYA CASTA-EDA >(Granma International staff writer) > >AFTER expert witnesses had moved through the dry scientific >vocabulary and demonstrated the scope of the biological >aggression which attacked the Cuban agricultural sector in >particular, only one graphic expression remained: not even the >busy bees were safe. >The evidence was presented during the testimony of expert >witnesses on the afternoon of March 7, related to the Cuban >people�s lawsuit for economic damages against the U.S. >government. > >Drs. Emerio Serrano, Manuel Toledo and Carlos Delgado, who >work at the Institute of Veterinary Medicine, presented a report >on the damage to animals due to artificially introduced diseases. >They explained that the International Epizootiology Office, the >central agency in this context, has identified, in two lists, the >principal diseases affecting animals. List A includes 15 serious >diseases, of which Cuba is free of 14 (the other one is swine fever >and is under control through immunizations); and List B, with >another 90 diseases, of which the island is exempt from 61. >The scientists made extensive reference to, and demonstrated the >artificial introduction of : African swine fever (1971 and 1979); >bovine nodular pseudodermatitis (1981); Newcastle�s disease, >which affects poultry (1985); ulcerative mammillitis in milk cows >(1989); varroasis, a pathology which affects bees (1991); and >hemorrhagic rabbit disease (1993). > >The report relates the research undertaken in all those cases as to >potential sources of infection and determines that their >introduction was artificial; in other words, it was biological >warfare. >It notes how the diseases coincide with areas of economic growth, >with the objective�as the lawsuit affirms�of sabotaging food >sources, blocking income derived from exports and occasioning >considerable losses. > >For example, the first outbreak of African swine fever was >detected in Havana province, where the country's principal >breeding centers are located. This led to the extermination of >more than 45,000 hogs, the slaughter of a further 400,000 which >could be utilized for industrial purposes, and economic losses of >over $10 million USD. >Subsequently, due to a modified strain of the same virus (the >animals had been immunized against the classic variety), more >than 900,000 hogs were lost in 1980. > >Diseases affecting milk cows were detected in Villa Clara and >Granma provinces, and the rabbit disease in City of Havana, >Havana and Matanzas provinces, with more than 100,000 animal >deaths and $2 million USD in economic losses, without counting >the effects on research centers which use rabbits for >experimental purposes. > >It was also demonstrated that varroasis, a parasitic bee disease, >was introduced in Matanzas in a criminal form, since its natural >propagation would have followed predominant winds (from east >to west), and points of infection appeared in an isolated manner, >principally in that province, Havana and City of Havana, which >have 26% of their honey production destined for exportation. >Nevertheless, in less than three years, 80% of the country was >affected. > >The judges also heard the ruling of expert witnesses Antonia >Prieto, Raquel Silveira and Maria del Carmen Rodriguez, head >researchers at the Fishing Research Center, who covered >ulcerative disease in trout, which commenced in the Zaza >reservoir, in Sancti Spiritus province, and extended throughout >the country, and worse, to other species like tilapia, being >developed to feed the population. > >One case of biological aggression claimed at the time was the >introduction of the Thrips palmi karmy insect. Evidence was given >by witness Tomas Torralbas, co-pilot of Cubana Airlines� Havana- >Las Tunas flight who, on October 21, 1996, saw a U.S. aircraft >spraying a liquid substance along the Giron corridor, south of >Varadero, six or seven times. > >Since its appearance, Thrips palmi has affected 17 crops in the >contaminated areas, including potatoes, beans, peppers, >cucumber and squash. >Overall, the material damage is estimated at tens of thousands of >dollars and, according to Minister of Science, Technology and the >Environment Rosa Elena Simeon, who is also a doctor and >virologist, the consequent human suffering is impossible to >quantify." JC > > > > __________________________________ KOMINFORM P.O. Box 66 00841 Helsinki - Finland +358-40-7177941, fax +358-9-7591081 e-mail [EMAIL PROTECTED] http://www.kominf.pp.fi ___________________________________ [EMAIL PROTECTED] Subscribe/unsubscribe messages mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] ___________________________________
