Virology controversy goes viral
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Thiruvananthapuram: Chief Minister's statement that the State Government will cooperate with Baltimore Institute of Human Virology (IHV) has ended up in a bit of a controversy.
Prominent Environment scientist Dr. S. Faizi has accused that the IHV is an institute which was alleged to have developed HIV as a biological weapon for US. In a Facebook post, Dr. Faizi said that Dr. Robert Gallo, who metKerala chief minister Pinarayi Vijayan at IHV, is accused as the mastermind behind developing HIV in highly secured 'P5' laboratory of Pentagon of US.
Dr Gallo met the chief minister at a function where the latter was given accolades for Kerala's achievement of bringing under control the Nipah virus recently. Dr. Faizi is president of 'Ecological Society of India' and is an expert committee member of Convention of Biological Diversity (CBD) of UN.
In 1990, two molecular biologists of Germany had accused that Dr. Robert C. Gallo, prominent cancer biologist and author of many theses in Cancer Molecular Biology, developed HIV through genome editing. South African president Thabo Mbeki and Wangari Mathay an internationally known Kenyan environmental political activist and Nobel laureate. - had been in open criticism of that. But later both of them retracted owing to US pressure, Faizi said.
However, in a rejoinder to such charges, former president of Kerala Sasthra Sahitya Parishad DR KP Aravindan has in a Facebook stated that Rober Gallo is a scientist much respected in the scientific world, and has made major contributions in the fiels of immunology and virology. He recalled that the Paprishad had published such allegations in a book, but later when they proved wrong, withdrew the book (the only book Parishad had withdrawn).
Dr Aravindan derided critics of the scientist and the event for making statements on matters without expertise in them, although he could understand some Keralite intellectuals and activists coming out against the US trip of the chief minister. Also understandable was that they had not heard of Gallo.