adysav

Doesn't that describe pretty much every virus in the third world?
Tuberculosis, diphtheria, cholera, malaria, typhoid... hell, the most common cause of death in third world infants is diarrhea.
The first world probably has fewer instances of all these combined (except diarrhea) than HIV and AIDS. There are plenty of good viruses out there that are easier to stop in the West, kill in a far shorter time, spread more easily and they probably dont take a great stretch to become even more efficient at the hands of someone who knows how.
Instead someone goes to the trouble of creating a new virus, one that potentially takes years to kill and is incurable in the West.

"Some say that AIDS came from the monkeys, and I doubt that because we have been living with monkeys (since) time immemorial"
Avian flu and SARS anyone?

Ustwo

She's a total dumb ass. I don't know how anyone could take her seriously after that line. A second year biology student should be able to explain it to her.

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Mephisto2

What a pity.

I've kinda lost a lot of respect for her now.

Oh well...


Mr Mephisto

shakran

Oh my god. I'm agreeing with Ustwo

Yes, she is a dumbass. The idea that HIV is a bioweapon is dumbass.

If you're gonna make a bioweapon, you make one that can survive outside the body for more than a few seconds. You make one that's spread by respiration, not sex - it's easy to avoid sex, it's not so easy to avoid breathing. You make one that spreads very fast and to multiple people from the primary source. i.e. AIDS can only be transmitted to one person at a time (unless you get really kinky). An effective bioweapon virus would be spreadable to an entire room of people at the same time from one person - i.e. an airborne virus.

Finally, what possible motivation could anyone have for attacking poor people in Africa. They don't exactly hold a grip on anything in the world. If HIV were a bioweapon, it would have been released in the United States or the USSR - somewhere with a lot of influence that has targets people would actually give a crap about killing.

Dragonlich

Actually... research suggests that Europeans/Caucasians are better able to defeat diseases like the Plague because of our history with it - the survivors of the medieval epidemics were more resistent to the disease. This could have something to do with a resistance to HIV/AIDS.

Kalibah

And the fact that we americans use condoms more than africans

adysav

13 African countries are petroleum exporters.
There's also diamonds, gold, uranium, rubies, coal, copper, manganese, zinc, cocoa, coffee, timber and others.
Unless it was a US invention.

shakran

[QUOTE=adysav]13 African countries are petroleum exporters.
There's also diamonds, gold, uranium, rubies, coal, copper, manganese, zinc, cocoa, coffee, timber and others.[QUOTE]

Then why didn't we release it in Saudi Arabia and the other OPEC nations? If you hadn't noticed, we get a lot more oil from them, and they screw us over a lot more. As for the other imports, they don't add up to enough value from Africa alone to justify a massive bio attack on them. Why aren't we attacking other countries that export these products as well? It just doesn't add up.

In which case, since its spread exploded during the Reagan administration, we'd have used it to attack the "evil empire" of the USSR.

neutone

She's not alone there. Perhaps you flamers should consider the following.
Wangari Maathai is an African hero, Nobel doesn't prescribe all winners to be Academics. Her statements may be naive at most and she deserves more respect that you give, she is working to help Africa. AIDS is on her doorstep, killing her children, friends and neighbours, it is eating Africa from the inside. And still she work for Africa, building, educating and sharing. She is growing Africa. Her statement may not have a seemlessly solid foundation, but it spells out her desperate need for understanding why her people are dying.

How much has this bullshit Iraq war cost? How many HIV infected/poverty stricken families could have been helped for the price of one missile? It's disgusting and pointless what is happening.

thefictionweliv

Apparently its not so easy to avoid sex for alot of people cause the disease still spreads.

adysav

Perhaps they thought that Russian counter-intelligence would find out about it and launch a counter-offensive bioweapon or a nuclear strike. Attacking what are effectively backward nations is a damn sight easier.
The conditions in Africa are perfect for a HIV epidemic, whereas Islamic states tend to have a less liberal attitude to sex. I would imagine the middle eastern OPEC states could also afford a similar level of treatment to the US. African nations also have a history of screwing the population at the expense of the government, the general public probably wouldn't get treated even if they had the capability. The UN try to help regarding a number of different issues and a lot of the time get shot at for their trouble.
Enough value? The entire natural resources of a continent against the negligible cost of introducing a virus? All you have to do is sit back and wait.

Heh, I'm almost starting to believe this myself.

Mojo_PeiPei

That's because African people tend to be largely ignorant when it comes to HIV and it's spreading.

It appears as if I have contracted the virus, I must now go screw an under age virgin, then I shall be saved...

At the same time people in the first world are out there being more fucking ignorant because they actually know about the shit.

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Ustwo

I see, because she is working for a better Africa (her version that is) its ok that she says inflamitory things like this in order to spread hatrid against whites. Thats all this is, race baiting. So either she is a total dumb ass or she is a lying politician type trying to make people hate, and maybe she is both.

You can keep making lame excuses for her if you like, but this is insane.

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neutone

Are you aware that the Apartheid government of South Africa had various ludicrous programs that were designed to make African women infertile? She is well used to being suspicious, and as silly as her claims may seem she comes from a place where the political integrity of whites is dubious at best.

It is ridiculous to call her a lying politician, her work has nothing to do with politics. Suddenly the camera is on her and she had the opportunity to raise an important issue. The issue is Aids awareness. Admittedly (and understandeably) the issue is tainted with suspician of the west. Well who isn't suspicious of the West?

Lebell

This thread is about one post from being moved to "Paranoia"

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Bill O'Rights

Why wait. This one was overdue. Carry on.

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hokieian

Oh really, where is all this evidence? As a virologist, I certainly haven't seen any evidence that HIV is man-made, in fact I have seen heaps and heaps of scientific evidence to the opposite.

The scientific technology in the 1970's was nowhere near capable of engineering a completely new virus and it still isn't there today. At best, viruses can be engineered to be more pathogenic. Also, it was only recently that existing viruses whose genes and proteins are well understood could be made by "incubating" all of the correct genes in a tube to yield whole virions.

But don't let science get in the way of your conspiracy theories.

archer2371

I wasn't aware that humans could create retroviruses... I was talking with my mom about this who has a degree in microbiology and biochemistry from UT, and she said as far as she knew, humans could slightly modify retroviruses, but since we can't create the necessary RNA for a retrovirus, what the woman put forth is rather kuckoo-brained and not based in factual science at all. If you think about it, if we could create retroviruses, we'd find a cure a lot quicker, because if you know how to make it, you'll also know how to unmake it.

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Lebell

What do you know, you're just a scientist!

Clearly people who've won the Nobel prize for planting trees and caring for Africa are far more competent talking about AIDS than you!

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hokieian

Exactly. If the government had made HIV in some super-secret underground bunker, I highly doubt the same government would be spending billions of dollars and man hours trying to figure out how to stop it from spreading.

seep

She's not dumb, she just said a dumb thing. Lots of people have weird beliefs.

jb2000

It's not a totally simplistic situation, but the thre big factors are that most of the African communities most heavily affected are intensely ignorant, poor, and conservative communities. Places where money is scarce, people are ignorant, and customs prevent many of the changes in behaviour that are needed, I think it is pretty clear to see how a disease like AIDS can have a field day.