BIOTECH & HEALTH ISSUES

During the Hajj and Umrah seasons, times when Muslim pilgrims from around the world pour into the holy city of Mecca in Saudi Arabia, pilgrims bring home more than just souvenirs: they often bring home a host of infectious diseases, as well. After several outbreaks of meningitis and other infectious diseases during the pilgrimage seasons due to overcrowded conditions and close contact with visitors from all over the world, Saudi Arabia has instituted vaccination requirements for all visitors applying for a pilgrimage visa. Although safe and effective vaccines are available, many people are wary of taking them because of what they may contain.

On October 3-7, 2004, the Center for Defense Information (CDI) co-sponsored a mission to Cuba, the third in a series of visits to biotechnology facilities on the island. CDI launched this initiative in late 2002 in response to allegations by Under Secretary of State John Bolton that Cuba posed a military and terrorist threat to the United States because it had "at least a limited offensive biological warfare research and development effort" and had "provided dual-use biotechnology to other rogue states."

"The United States believes that Cuba has at least a limited offensive biological warfare research and development effort." With those words in May 2002, Undersecretary of State John Bolton triggered an uproar.Did Cuba indeed possess Weapons of Mass Destruction (WMD)? If so, would it become the next target of U.S. pre-emptive military action? If not, what do the allegations say about U.S. credibility in the war on terror, already damaged by its inability to find WMD in Iraq?

In response to Bush administration accusations of a Cuban "biological warfare research and development effort," a group of leading experts visited nine Cuban biotechnology facilities in October 2002. Here is what they found.