AIDS RESEARCH FOUNDATION WANTS NEW CONGRESSIONAL PROBE INTO AIDS ORIGIN

AIDS RESEARCH FOUNDATION WANTS NEW CONGRESSIONAL PROBE INTO AIDS ORIGIN

By MYRON STRUCK

Targeted News Service

WASHINGTON, Date -- A public interest group is asking for a new congressional investigation into the origin of AIDS. Dr. Boyd Ed Graves, AIDS director for the Common Cause Medical Research Foundation, has written to Rep. John P. Murtha, D-Pa., chairman of the House Appropriations subcommittee on defense, asking for a probe of possible involvement by the Pentagon in creating the special virus that is now involved in AIDS.

Graves cited a letter from Pentagon official A.H. Passarella from 1999 in which the official "confirmed AIDS is a synthetic biological agent." Graves , who has long championed federal and other investigations into the root causes of the AIDS epidemic, said his research traces the virus's origin to a disease called visna that began killing sheep in Iceland in 1932. He contends that deaths were associated with experiments by Nazi scientists.

After importing the scientists to the U.S. , Graves contends that there is a connection to subsequent experiments and activities by the Defense Department – recorded as requests for appropriations – that link the government actions to the disease. The research has shown that the AIDS virus was developed under the Special Virus program, associated with cancers, and was possibly part of biological warfare activities.

In his letter to Murtha, Graves wrote: "These Appropriations are part of the concrete evidence the American people and the people of the world have compiled with respect to our resolve to know the truth. In this regard and in support of the foregoing, we have an additional question for the U.S. Congress: If there was a federal virus development program that preceded HIV/AIDS, should that program be reviewed."

In his letter, which also went to Rep. Don Payne, D-N.J., chairman of the House subcommittee on Africa and global health, Graves wrote: "The U.S. Special Virus program began officially in 1962 and ended in 1978. The program produced 15 progress reports and is coordinated by a 1971 flowchart blueprint. We believe this Congressional Committee has the jurisdiction and the authority to address the concerns of so many Americans and others."

The flow chart is posted to Graves ' Website: www.boydgraves.com/flowchart