U.S. Uses Africa as Experimental Drugs Testing Ground: Russia
A biological risk laboratory. X/ @AnnaBoylon
December 24, 2024 Hour: 10:40 am
Over 20 biological facilities are involved in obtaining pathogenic agents from endemic areas and natural hotspots.
On Tuesday, Alexei Rtischev, deputy head of the Russian Army’s Radiological, Chemical, and Biological Protection Troops, accused the United States of conducting unethical medical practices in Africa.
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“The U.S. administration views this region as an unlimited natural reservoir of pathogens from dangerous infections and a testing ground for experimental drugs in the field,” he stated, adding that the U.S. Army and Navy medical research centers maintain field stations in Kenya, Ghana, Djibouti, and Nigeria, countries where Washington also operates several military bases.
Over 20 biological facilities in 18 African countries are involved in an initiative focused on obtaining “pathogenic agents from endemic areas and natural hotspots, monitoring the biological situation, and managing it for their own benefit,” the senior military official said.
The Russian Defense Ministry claims that Washington has developed a system to manage biological risks on the territory of other states, which has already been tested in Ukraine and Georgia.
One of this system’s objectives is to analyze the epidemic situation along the borders of the United States’ geopolitical adversaries in regions where it seeks to deploy military contingents.
Rtischev alleged that the U.S. does not disclose the objectives of these experiments and that its partners are often unaware of the risks associated with the programs of this network of biological centers.
He also highlighted that specialists from the U.S. Navy Medical-Military Center operate in natural disease hotspots in Ghana and Djibouti. Meanwhile, the United States has deployed a network of stations in Kenya to monitor the spread of infectious diseases in equatorial African countries.
In the past year, the United States has established a medical research center and a military-medical laboratory in Nigeria staffed by 10 specialists.
In Senegal, a large laboratory costing US$35 million is under construction, a project involving Pentagon contractors such as Black & Veatch, which also participate in similar projects in Armenia, Georgia, Kazakhstan, and Ukraine.
Rtischev pointed out the “Pathogen Genomes” program, which involves more than 20 biological facilities in 18 countries. The program’s objective is to study the characteristics of infections and the resistance of pathogenic microorganisms to medical drugs. Through these efforts, the U.S. seeks to strengthen its biological-military potential while evading commitments under the Biological Weapons Convention.
“The pathogens of diseases that fall within the Pentagon’s area of interest are subsequently spread as pandemics, and American pharmaceutical companies become the beneficiaries,” the Russian Ministry stated.
The U.S. is concerned about outbreaks of dangerous diseases that “undermine the region’s economic development potential.” Therefore, improving the competencies of local specialists in neutralizing biological threats enables the U.S. to achieve greater “efficiency” from its forces. However, training local personnel to work in private centers leads to distortions in national systems.
“There is a shift to U.S. standards for personnel training, the transmission and summarization of information about the biological situation, a degradation of national healthcare systems, and the imposition of medical equipment and drug suppliers,” Rtischev said, adding that African states lose their national sovereignty in biosecurity matters and become entirely dependent on the U.S.
teleSUR/ JF Source: RT
