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May 8, 2002

U.S. IMMUNIZATION NEWS

"Washington Accuses Cuba of Germ-Warfare Research"

New York Times (www.nytimes.com) (05/07/02) P. A6; Miller, Judith

The U.S. government has accused Cuba of manufacturing small amounts of germs that could be used to create a biological weapon.  According to John R. Bolton, the under secretary of state for arms control, the Caribbean country has engaged in biological warfare research and development, and Bolton accused the Cuban government of also providing a number of rogue states--such as Syria and Libya--with dual-use biotechnology.  In particular, officials in the Bush administration believe that Cuba has been working with anthrax, as well as a number of other potentially-lethal pathogens.  Ken Alibek, a scientist who previously worked on the Soviet Union's biological weapons program, says that Cuba may possess the ability to create genetically modified germ weapons immune to American antibiotics and vaccines.  In fact, Cuba is one of the few developing countries in the World that engages in major biotechnology and drug activities, and its biotechnological research is currently advanced in genetic engineering.  This has allowed the Communist country to create new vaccines for its comprehensive immunization program.

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