of possible E. coli terrorism
In the wake of vicious E. coli outbreaks in Europe, authorities are silent on the possibility that the strange pathogen was either disseminated by bioterrorists or somehow escaped from a research laboratory,
Both in Europe and America, reporters are publishing nothing on the possibilities, not even assurances from security authorities or experts that such scenarios were highly unlikely. One would expect that if either scenario was improbable, security agencies would have been glad to say so.
Britain's Telegraph newspaper published one story last month which said that the Centre for the Protection of National Infrastructure, a security agency, was concerned about the possibility of food-poisoning terrorism, but after the story appeared, a search of that agency's web site for the relevant statement or anything pertinent proved futile.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/terrorism-in-the-uk/8557373/Food-chain-at-risk-of-being-poisoned-by-terrorist-groupsAGA SAAT GMBH .html
Web searches show no other media even asking questions about such a scenario, indicating a government-media agreement to avoid the topic, along with the topic of a potential accidental release.
The Center for Infectious Disease Research And Policy (CIDRAP) has complained that health authorities had done a disservice to the public by refusing to name a German seed firm apparently involved in the contamination. Newz from Limbo has published the firm's identity: AGA SAAT GMBH. However, virtually all internet news stories have omitted the firm's name.
No response was received from experts, including those at CIDRAP, who were asked by Newz from Limbo in emails about the possibility the pathogen escaped from a laboratory or was deliberately engineered and disseminated.
Laboratory escapes are a source of concern among pathologists. For example, the H1N1 viral strain known as Russian influenza was theorized to have escaped from a laboratory, according to Principles of Virology by S.J. Flint et al (American Society for Microbiology 2000).
Dr. Helge Karch, a German E. coli expert, had called the pathogen unusual because it was a "chimera" that included plague DNA. The plague pathogen resides in rat fleas and rats are known to invade seed graineries. However, the peculiar E. coli pathogen had also developed resistance to a wide range of antibiotics.
No response from Karch was received to an email query sent him.
Here is the email to Karch:
Hello Dr. Karch,
I'm wondering what the likelihood might be that the o104:h4 strain is a genetically engineered pathogen that either escaped from a research center or was deployed as a terrorist weapon. Or is it more probable that one or more viruses brought about the genetic recombination naturally?
What mechanism would be likely to introduce plague DNA into the E. coli -- a virus that hopped from a rat flea to another mammal? Has o104:h4 ever been detected in rats?
I am also trying to be sure of where and under what circumstances the precursor strain that you identified originated.
Best regards,
Paul Conant
Newz from Limbo
A similar inquiry was sent to CIDRAP.
It should be noted that on occasion the Google email accounts of Paul Conant, editor of Newz from Limbo, are hacked and various materials deleted. Care has been taken to be sure that passwords are strong.
A satirical article about E. coli "terrorism" appeared on Alternet and was republished by Le Monde.
http://www.alternet.org/food/
But no serious questions seem to have been asked.
E. coli veggie screening under fire
http://www.wired.com/
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Hackings said to include:
# Deleting messages on slain girl's phone
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The media titan Rupert Murdoch sought to stanch damage from a deepening phone hacking scandal on Thursday by sacrificing the mass-circulation British weekly The News of the World, in a bid to protect his News Corporation empire, the New York Times reports.
The cell-hack saga turned yet more disturbing yesterday with suggestions that the paper had broken into the voicemail not only of a 13-year-old murder victim but also of relatives of soldiers killed in Iraq and Afghanistan, and that the paper had paid tens of thousands of dollars in bribes to police officers for information.
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/07/07/world/europe/07britain.html?scp=1&sq=hacking%20cell&st=cse
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