Why does Jeremiah Wright’s radical argument about AIDS as a United States Governmental bioweapons experiment gone bad resonate so well with his congregation as well as African Americans in general? This has to do with an in history that the US government would rather ignore, if it were possible. That event is the Tuskegee Syphilis experiment, and the fact that race specific biomedical engineering is possible.
A doctor draws blood from one of the Tuskegee test subjects
The Tuskegee syphilis experiment[1] (also known as the Tuskegee syphilis study or Public Health Service syphilis study) was an infamous clinical study conducted between 1932 and 1972 in Tuskegee, Alabama by the U.S. Public Health Service to study the natural progression of untreated syphilis in poor, rural black men who thought they were receiving free health care from the U.S. government.[1]
The Public Health Service, working with the Tuskegee Institute, began the study in 1932. Investigators enrolled in the study a total of 600 impoverished, African-American sharecroppers from Macon County, Alabama; 399 who had previously contracted syphilis before the study began, and 201 without the disease. For participating in the study, the men were given free medical care, meals, and free burial insurance. They were never told they had syphilis, nor were they ever treated for it. According to the Centers for Disease Control, the men were told they were being treated for "bad blood," a local term used to describe several illnesses, including syphilis, anemia and fatigue.
The 40-year study was controversial for reasons related to ethical standards; primarily because researchers knowingly failed to treat patients appropriately after the 1940s validation of penicillin as an effective cure for the disease they were studying. Revelation of study failures by a whistleblower led to major changes in U.S. law and regulation on the protection of participants in clinical studies. Now studies require informed consent (with exceptions possible for U.S. Federal agencies which can be kept secret by Executive Order[2]), communication of diagnosis, and accurate reporting of test results.[3]
The Tuskegee Syphilis Study, cited as "arguably the most infamous biomedical research study in U.S. history,"[6] led to the 1979 Belmont Report and the establishment of the Office for Human Research Protections (OHRP).[7] It also led to federal laws and regulations requiring Institutional Review Boards for the protection of human subjects in studies involving human subjects. The Office for Human Research Protections (OHRP) manages this responsibility within the US Department of Health and Human Services (HHS).[8]
Cultural Relevance
The story of the Thing-Fish surrounds the creation, presumably by the US government, of an insidious substance, which is to be added to the water supply to kill off blacks and gays. This is a reference to the Tuskegee Syphilis Experiment, and also gives voice to a conspiracy theory that AIDS was engineered. Racist and homophobic sentiments were common the group subject to parody by Harry and Rhonda, during this time period, and blacks and gays were an oddity, viewed as exotic, unsettling, and dangerous. Zappa created this work to harshly satire these views, as well as to take a stab at the world of Broadway which he viewed as bland, uninspired, and formulaic. This formula is discussed during the Thing Fish -- "I want faeries on a string! I want wind rushing down the plain!" -- And then as though to deliberately unsubstantiate them, bizarre, unsettling acts occur, with the disclaimer that the Mammy Nuns will have "faeries on a string for your ass just a little later".
THE UNIQUE ADVANTAGE OF RACE SPACIFIC BIOWEAPONS
Michael Kronenwetter
Michael Kronenwetter in Terrorism: A Guide to Events and Documents (2004) writes that a unique advantage of biological weapons [such as the AIDS virus] is the fact that, cleverly used, they could allow a terrorist [or mad government scientists] to strike and be gone from the scene long before his victims are even aware that anything is amiss. Biological weapons hold out the possibility that they could be uniquely tailored to a particular target group.
In May 2002, a South African scientist named Daan Goosen presented American intelligence officials with a toothpaste tube containing a sample of a DNA-altered bacterium.
“If U.S. officials liked what they saw,” according to a report in the Washington Post, “Goosen said he was prepared to offer much more: an entire collection of pathogens developed by a secret South African bioweapons research program Goosen once headed” called Project Coast (Warrick and Mintz 2003: “Lethal Legacy: Bioweapons for Sale.” Washington Post, 20 April).
Unlike the U.S. Cold War—era bioweapons program—which focused on ways that biological weapons might be delivered in wartime, over long distances, by means of missiles or other explosive devices—Project Coast was more of a boutique operation. Its weapons were intended for potential use against internal enemies, rebellious blacks or anti-apartheid activists, and consequently, the Project looked at more exotic organisms that could be delivered in highly targeted ways.
Pacific Coast even “explored—but never produced,” [or so they said], biological agents that could target South Africa’s black community while leaving the whites untouched (Warrick and Mintz 2002). The mere fact that Project Coast seriously explored the possibility begs the questions of whether bioweapons might one day be found to have a particular potential for use in race warfare. Although there is no evidence that any black group is currently doing so, might not some black terrorist organization be working even now on an organism that would specifically target whites?
Such racial/ethnic-specific weapons could be especially useful to certain categories of terrorists, such as white supremacists or religious fanatics whose religion is closely identified with one particular racial or ethnic group. At the moment, the development of designer-bioweapons requires levels of scientific skill, knowledge, resources, and sophistication available only to governments or major research institutions.
Once such weapons have been developed, however, terrorist will be able to lay hands on them in the same ways they now lay hands on less sophisticated weapons. That is to say, they can buy them or steal them; or obtain them directly or indirectly from a government, either as a form of government sponsorship or as a gift from rogue elements within the government’s military or intelligence services. (83-4)
http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p00lskfh
Ryan White
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Last broadcast today, 13:50 on BBC World Service (see all broadcasts).
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Synopsis
To mark World Aids Day Louise Hidalgo reports on the story of Ryan White.
He was a haemophiliac who was banned from school after testing HIV positive.
His death from Aids, changed attitudes towards the disease in the USA.
PHOTO: Associated Press
HIV/Aids: Why were the campaigns successful in the West?
The arrival of HIV/Aids in the early 1980s led to predictions of deaths on a massive scale - yet developed countries largely avoided such a fate. What did the wave of urgent awareness campaigns get right?
Aids: Where now?
To mark World Aids Day on 1 December, BBC News presents a series of articles and features covering the fight against HIV/Aids
Read more on the BBC News website
THE EXCHANGE WSUI--IPR.COM
Thirty-four states and two U.S. territories criminalize the transmission of HIV. According to the best available data, Iowa is one of the leaders in prosecuting these cases. HIV/AIDs advocates are working to repeal the law which was passed in 1998 arguing it furthers stigma and doesn’t take into account present day knowledge about HIV and its spread. In Iowa, you don’t have to transmit the virus to be prosecuted for doing so. This hour we speak with Randy Mayer of the Iowa Department of Public Health about the scope of HIV in Iowa and the controversy over the law. We’re also joined by Virginia Tonelli of CHAIN, the Community Hepatitis and HIV Advocates of Iowa Network, one of the groups working to change the law and Catherine Hanssens, the Executive Director for the Center for HIV Law and Policy.
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Bachmann to the rescue ~ visions of sugar plumbs dance in here head
Charles A. Reich in Opposing the System (1995) wrote [of System Reps like Bachmann] that when power or expertise exists but responsibility is denied, a gap is created where others are disabled from acting. By exerting control, the powerful exclude others from taking necessary actions. By denying responsibility, the powerful create a zone of neglect where no one can prevent the festering of evils and decay. It is this zone of neglect that is now spreading its malign influence across the American landscape, causing the decay of cities and people. Nothing is more demoralizing than the exercise of control by those who take no responsibility, because it prevents those who are subject to that control from helping themselves.
ONE REPUBLICAN MONKEY DON'T STOP NO SHOW
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David Biddle
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Snowden
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Jimmy Zuma
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