NewsMine — deceptions — plagues — safrica-scientists — Viewing Item

Bioweapons expert dismisses allegations { April 22 2003 } Original Source Link: (May no longer be active)    http://reuters.com/newsArticle.jhtml?type=scienceNews&storyID=2605326 http://reuters.com/newsArticle.jhtml?type=scienceNews&storyID=2605326 S.Africa Bioweapons Expert Dismisses Bioweapons Allegations Tue April 22, 2003 11:56 AM ET By Mariam Isa JOHANNESBURG (Reuters) - A South African scientist who headed an apartheid-era biological weapons laboratory said on Tuesday many people had approached him to buy antiserums for killer diseases since the September 11 attacks. Daan Goosen said he had last year suggested cooperating with the U.S. government on biological weapons, but rejected allegations in the Washington Post this week that he tried to peddle his expertise to U.S. authorities for $5 million. The laboratory that Goosen used to head developed an array of weapons including cigarettes laced with anthrax, chocolates and drinks containing toxins like botulism and salmonella, and untraceable poisons that could be applied to clothing and absorbed through the skin. He told Reuters that a few of the prospective buyers, who claimed to represent Germany and a friendly Arab country, also said they wanted to buy organisms like anthrax to test his products. Goosen said he did not respond to these requests and insisted he had not broken any laws. "Since September 11 and the anthrax episodes in the United States I was approached by many people from all over -- including some who said they were from Germany and a friendly Arab nation," he said. "I just said that in the circumstances of the world today they had to bring official papers," he said in a telephone interview. APARTHEID BIO-WEAPONS FOR SALE? South African newspapers quoted a two-part series from the Washington Post this week alleging that biological weapons material developed during the apartheid era remained in private hands and was attracting interest from overseas buyers. Goosen's former laboratory was part of Project Coast, a secret biological and chemical warfare program started in the early 1980s by the white-minority regime and shut down a decade later. Goosen said he had sent a sample of his work in a toothpaste tube to the U.S. Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI). The Washington Post said the tube contained a bacterial hybrid fusing the genes of a common intestinal bug with DNA from a pathogen. The Washington Post said Goosen wanted $5 million and 19 U.S. immigration permits in return for other materials. Goosen dismissed most of the allegations: "There are no bioweapons for sale here. I never tried to sell bio-weapons and I did not ask for $5 million. "The only thing we were interested in...was to work with the Americans to produce antiserums and vaccines. We have a lot of experience with these things. When they were not interested, that was the end of the story," he said. He said he had been approached by others between June and August of 2002, but had said he was "not interested." South African newspapers said the FBI had turned the case over to local authorities after the deal collapsed. South Africa renounced its nuclear, chemical and biological weapons programs in 1993, a year before the country's first democratic elections swept Nelson Mandela to power.

Biotixins fall into private hands { April 21 2003 } Bioweapons expert dismisses allegations { April 22 2003 } Sent bacteria to fbi { May 6 2002 } Us declined pathogens offer { April 20 2003 } Files Listed: 4

Correction/submissions

CIA FOIA Archive

National Security Archives

This site contains copyrighted material the use of which has not always been specifically authorized by the copyright owner. We are making such material available in our efforts to advance understanding of environmental, political, human rights, economic, democracy, scientific, and social justice issues, etc. We believe this constitutes a 'fair use' of any such copyrighted material as provided for in section 107 of the US Copyright Law. In accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. Section 107, the material on this site is distributed without profit to those who have expressed a prior interest in receiving the included information for research and educational purposes. For more information, go to: http://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/17/107.shtml. If you wish to use copyrighted material from this site for purpose of your own that go beyond 'fair use', you must obtain permission from the copyright owner.