POW 

Whose splendour is being glimpsed?

Whose splendour is being glimpsed? What's this light?
What does the amazed onlooker see here?
Ask whatever you will for you shall receive your heart's desire!
Here none are refused, nor are you asked why you have come!
Advice can seem harsh o' adviser, don't be so bitter o' Ego
O' soul drowned in the poison of your sins, does anything taste sweet to
you?
We are the Prophet's; he is Yours; thus we too are Yours-
What greater intermediary to You is there than this?
You created us in his nation and sent him as a mercy
Do not then say, 'what claim on mercy do you have?'
For the sake of Your Beloved's modesty, do not take me to task
Forgive me unreservedly-why put such a sinner to test?
O' ascetic I am his sinful slave and he is my Intercessor
What do you think? Isn't that enough for my salvation?
When I am helpless during the Questioning about my deeds
Friends, how can I describe to you my sole hope for that time?
Alas! If only on hearing my shrieks my Prophet does say:
"Go and see what is this noise, this commotion?
Who is this terrified person? Upon whom has calamity befallen?
In what difficulty is he? What is his sorrow?
To whom does he call out, 'By God! Hear my plea'?
Why is he restless? What is this distressed wailing?
His pain bears heavily upon me indeed!
Someone go ask him: 'what has befallen you?'"
Thus the angels do respectfully reply: "It is a sinner;
He is being asked: 'Tell us, what have you earned in the world below?'
He is facing torment; the Record of his deeds is laid bare before him
He is terrified about how Almighty God shall judge him
And beseeches you thus: 'O' King of Messengers!
Your slave is helpless! Master, what is taking you so long?
Soon I shall be inflicted with a terrible punishment but
If you come to my aid then what worries do I have, what fear?'"
Upon hearing this petition of mine that Sea of Compassion surged forth
And in this way commanded the angels: "Wait! What is this?
Who is it that you wish to throw into the hellfire? Let me come and see for
myself What this uproar is all about!"
Upon hearing his voice I shall cry out instinctively with joy
And ardently exclaim: 'Now I need not worry any more!
See! Here comes my succour, the Saviour of Mankind!
At his command the dead are quickened-this is nothing for him!'
Then my liege-lord shall cover me with his holy robe and remark:
'Aside o' angels! What claims do you have over him?'
Letting me go the angels shall reply: 'Master, we are mere servants
Who are we to dare go against your august command?'
Seeing this scene a great cry shall go up on the Plain of Judgement:
"Bravo! See that? How wonderfully has he saved his slave from destruction!"
Riza, at your melodies the songbirds make an offering of their souls
O' nightingale of the garden of Medina, how lovely is your song!

Translation of Yeh Kis Kay Jalway Ki Jhalak Hai by aj naqshbandi
By Imam Ahmed Rida Khan Barelwi, rahimahullah

United States of Canada 

POETRY

The crystallization of emotion, an image, a sound, a feeling or an experience in words.

As long as You are not angry with me

(In Lam Takun Ghaadiban Annee Falaa Ubaalee)
As long as You are not angry with me then I do not care
For me is the model of Musab bin Umayr
The best dressed man in the city
But that was for him a state of pity
Until there came to him the Message
All did he leave of his privilege
For the sake of Allah and His Beloved

As long as You are not angry with me then I do not care
For I think of Bilal when his chest was bare
On the burning sand did they make him lie
Until he thought he was going to die
They crushed him with rocks in the blazing sun
And begged him to reject the Almighty One
But never did he give in to the wicked

As long as You are not angry with me then I do not care
I remember Khabbaab when they pulled his hair
In the blacksmiths of his evil mistress
With burning rods did she cause him distress
She twisted his neck and burnt his skin
Until his fat dripped into a tin
But he remained firm to his belief as long as he lived

As long as You are not angry with me then I do not care
For I picture Khubaib when he was there
Tied and bound to an immovable tree
With no chance of him being free
Their spears and arrows did they fling
Yet grapes to him did his Lord bring
Until his noble soul was lifted

As long as You are not angry with me then I do not care
I think of Yasir, Sumaiyah and their heir
Even when placed on sizzling ember
None but their Lord did they remember
Patience you all when paying this price
Indeed your abode is Paradise
As a reward for all that you did.

As long as You are not angry with me, then I do not care
My example is Your Beloved when struck from the rear
By the sticks and stones of Taif's crowd
Yet he did cry in a voice so loud:
"O Lord! Forgive my people for they do not know,"
And even thought I am feeling so low...
As long as You are not angry with me, then I do not care.


by British Political Prisoner Babar Ahmad MX5383
HMP Woodhill
Tattenhoe Street
Milton Keynes
Bucks MK4 4DA

Man on the Moon 

TSUNAMI

\tsu-nämi\ noun\ ETYMOLOGY: Japanese : tsu=port + nami=wave
1.A very large ocean wave caused by an underwater earthquake or volcanic eruption.
2.From Aceh to Haiti, a predatory form of Disaster capitalism that uses desperation created by catastrophe to engage in radical social and economic engineering, reshaping societies to its own design of
corporate globalisation and militarisation.

22 Nov 1963 John F Kennedy hit in the head and throat when three shots were fired at his open-topped car.

 

Hadeeth related by al-Bayhaqi from Anas(R)

Anas (r) related that the Prophet (s) said:
Rajab is a tremendous month in which Allah multiplies the good deeds. So whoever fasts a day from Rajab it is as if he fasted a year; and whoever fasts seven days of it the seven gates of Hell are closed to him; and whoever fasts eight days from it the eight gates of Paradise are opened to him; and whoever fasts ten days from it will not ask Allah something except that Allah will grant it. And whoever fasts from it fifteen days a caller will call out from heavens "Verily you have been forgiven whatever is past, so renew your good actions, for indeed your transgressions have been transformed into virtuous deeds." And whoever does more, Allah gives to him even more. And in Rajab Allah carried Nuh (as) in the ark and he fasted and ordered all those with him to do so. And the ark sailed with them for six months until the first ten days of Muharram...

Hasta la victoria siempre. ¡Patria o Muerte!
 

RIBA

You know how the holy verses say about Interest(Riba). Al-Baqarah:275,276,278,279,Al-Imran:130,Al-Nisaa:161,Al-Room:39. A relevant Hadeeth is as follows Hazrat Jabir radiyallahu anhu has reported that the Messenger of Allah sallallahu alaihe wasallam cursed the devourer of usury, its payer, its scribe and its two witnesses. He also said that they were equal (in sin). (Muslim)

The following is my personal opinion and not anyone else's, so you may agree to it or reject it. I think the basic principle for forbidding Riba is not the effortless profit someone or an institution can make based on his/their personal fortune but the issue is that the person/institution is making profit by taking advantage of 'time'. And who other than Allah is the owner of time. What I mean is that given the circumstances that a person doesn't have a desired amount of money at a given time another person or institute takes advantage of the situation and increases his/its wealth with the passage of time. So here we are talking about people who are playing mischief with time. Now how important is "Time"? Allah swears by "Time" in Sura Asr. Allah asks to reflect about the Companions of the Cave in Surah Kahf where "Time" was brought to a stand still for the companions. The names Al-Qayyum,
the One who remains and does not end. Al-'Awwal, the One whose Existence is without a beginning. Al-'Akhir, the One whose Existence is without an end. Allah is in complete control of time. The conflict arises when our fellow human beings try to gain control of this commodity. I heard somewhere that when you ask 'what time is it' in Arabic the literal translation of the question is 'when has the time been dissected or cut'. I hope my personal views don't bother you. But this is how I feel about Mortgage, interest, down payment etc.

KimPhuk-Napalm 

The Test

The Messenger of Allah (sallallahu alaihi wa-sallam) said: "The
people most severely tested are the Prophets, then the righteous, then the next best and the next best. A man will be tested in accordance with the degree of his religious commitment; the stronger his religious commitment, the stronger his test." [Tuhfat al-Ahwadhi (7:78)]

Picture that saddens me 

This world

Do not be fooled by this world alone...For it is but an illusion.
"The life of this world is no more than illusion and vanity, while the abode of the Hereafter is far better for the righteous. Do you not understand?!" (6:32)

Blessings of the night

Every night during a certain hour the blessings of both this world and the next are bestowed upon those who seek.
-The Prophet Muhammad (SAW), as reported by Ja'bir bin Abd'Allah

THE THRONE OF GOD

The heart of the believer is the Throne of Divine
Mercy, the Throne of God

Conspiracy Theory

Well, that figures, ICDDR,B was conducting tests on the water of Dhanmondi Lake during Aug, 1975. They had a considerable amount of equipment and scientists working around the place. Coincidence??

ICDDR'B

What is for the ICDDR,B ?In Bangladesh there are plenty of organizations whichare receiving foreign funds under the pretext ofhelping the poor of Bangladesh. The InternationalCentre for Diarrhoeal Disease Research, Bangladesh(ICDDR,B), is such a big one. It is essential toexamine their works and demystify their role. MahmoodAli attempts an exposure of the specific case withdocumetary arguments. He insists that the ICDDR,Bspends money, collected in the name of poor, forpurposes which have little to do with the diarrhoealproblem of the people of Bangladesh. We encourage ourreaders to write more on similar cases.Deaths due to diarrhoea are reported frequently in thenewspapers of Bangladesh. An editorial on this problempublished in a leading daily at the beginning of thenew millennium is worth noting. It stated, “Althoughwe have stepped into a new century as well as a newmillennium, the scourge of diarrhoea is continuing tostalk us. This underlines the grim fact that even nowall parts of the country are yet to be in a positionwhere safe drinking water is easily accessible to thepeople. Moreover, severe financial constraints stillhold back development in many pockets of the communitymaking a sad mockery of health, hygiene and sanitationin this 21st century” (1).On February 11, 2001 the same newspaper had printed anews item on the utilisation of foreign aid inBangladesh. The title of the news item isself-explanatory. “Where does all foreign aid go?Seventy-five percent of donor’s money looted by local,foreign elite”. According to this report, foreign aidhas created long-term dependency and criminalised thepolitics and economy of the country. In the light ofthese developments it is important to take a criticallook at those institutions which are receiving foreignfunds under the pretext of helping the poor ofBangladesh.While the Government of Bangladesh may not haveadequate funding, the International Centre forDiarrhoeal Disease Research, Bangladesh (ICDDR,B),using the name of the poor of Bangladesh, collectsmillions and millions of dollars from severalcountries and organisations. But the ICDDR,B spendsmoney for purposes, which have little to do with thediarrhoeal problem of the people of Bangladesh. Thesituation is analogous to the owner of a crippledperson lying in a small box with wheels underneath.The owner uses the crippled person to collect money.But how much does it really go to the welfare of thecrippled person? The owner’s livelihood woulddisappear in the absence of the crippled person. TheICDDR,B is like the owner of the crippled person.Tragically Bangladesh is being treated like thecrippled person in the box!The ICDDR,B’s background leading to its foundation: The ICDDR,B is the continuation of the CholeraResearch Laboratory (CRL), originally established in1960 as a result of the military alliance betweenPakistan and USA under the umbrella of the South AsianTreaty Organization (SEATO, 2). After the independenceof Bangladesh, Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, the FoundingPrime Minister and later President of Bangladesh, didnot grant any long-term charter as he wanted CRL to beunder national control responsive to the Ministry ofHealth (3). He was assassinated in August 1975. Theidea of converting CRL to an internationalorganisation was launched in April 1976, only a fewmonths after his assassination (4). Dr. David Sack,the ICDDR,B´s present director, came to Bangladeshsoon after the assassination of Sheikh Mujibur Rahman.Since then he has been associated with the“activities” of this research Centre. In 1978 theICDDR,B obtained a 25-year charter from the Governmentof Bangladesh to operate as a research centre to workon diarrhoeal diseases “with special relevance todeveloping countries” (Ordinance No LI of 1978Government of Bangladesh; 6th Dec 1978). The charterwas renewed further for 25 years in 1998 and wasextended up to 2029.The ICCDR,B - a club of like-minded friends from USAand Sweden :A “club” comprising a few scientists from USA andtheir friends from Sweden basically controls theICDDR, B. Most of the directors of the Centreincluding the present one have come from this “club”.Under severe criticisms in the 1980´s, the Centre oncehad an Ethiopian as the director. But he was justwindow dressing. He was hand picked as he had beenlong associated with this “club”. The ICDDR,B operatesthrough very careful manipulations indeed! TheAmerican scientists inside the ICDDR,B do notrepresent the mainstream of bright and talentedscientists of USA who are making scientificbreakthroughs. Instead, the American scientists,currently associated with the ICDDR,B including itsdirector Dr. David Sack, have hardly made anysignificant scientific contributions. Their purpose ofstaying in Bangladesh may be for something else ! In the late 1970´s Dr. David Sack, the ICDDR,B´spresent director, was a junior member of the clubcontrolling the ICDDR,B. He joined in hands with agroup of Swedish scientists. Dr. Jan Holmgren, with anexperience of only 6 years after the doctoral degree,was made a member of the Board of Trustee of theICDDR,B. Because of his membership on the Board ofTrustee of the ICDDR,B, Dr. Holmgren found his wayinto the Board of SAREC, an organ of the Swedishgovernment’s foreign aid agency. These assignmentsgave Dr. Holmgren a complete insight and control overdevelopment, financing and marketing of the productswhich he, wife Ann-Mari Svennerholm and Dr. David Sackhad been trying to develop at the ICDDR,B. Theyplanned how to get rich quick and found that one ofthe ways would be to develop vaccines for soldiers andtourists from rich countries, who may requireprotection for a short period of time whatever may bethe cost. They would set up companies to marketproducts and eventually become millionaires. Theeasiest way to obtain funds for the development ofsuch products would be to use the name of thediarrhoea suffering poor people of Bangladesh. Moneywould be collected from various international donorssuch as the World Health Organization (WHO), TheUnited Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) and foreignaid agencies of various governments such as USA, UK,Japan, Canada and the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.Plenty of information has surfaced in the 1990´s. Aprofit making business venture in Sweden calledSBL-Vaccin AB has evolved out of the ICDDR,B’s activecollaboration with the Swedish scientists. The Swedishgovernment owned SBL-Vaccin AB until 1997 when it waspurchased by a private Swedish company Active Biotech.SBL-Vaccin AB has changed hands, its owner since 2003being Chiron Corporation of USA. SBL-Vaccin AB withDr. Holmgren as a member of its scientific council hastargeted soldiers and tourists from rich countries,who may require protection for a short period of timewhatever may be the cost. The company has made severalof its key players such as Drs. Holmgren, Svennerholmand their associates multi-millionaires. But the moneyfor the development of all these products werecollected from various international donors using thename of the diarrhoea suffering “poor people” ofBangladesh. As documents reveal, the ICDDR,B’sdirector Dr. David Sack has been working forSBL-Vaccin AB (5).The ICDDR,B´s activities in brief: The ICDDR,B’s ongoing research on “Peru-15”: a projectto develop a cholera vaccine for the US Army: The ICDDR,B is currently testing on Bangladeshis aVibrio cholerae strain entitled Peru-15, which hasbeen developed by scientists of the U.S. Army usingtechniques of genetic engineering (6). AVANTImmunotherapeutics Inc., a vaccine company fromMassachusetts (USA), has been awarded the license tomarket Peru-15 for commercial purposes such as thedevelopment of a cholera vaccine entitled CholeraGradeTM (7). The company has undergone an agreement withthe International Vaccine Institute (IVI) of SouthKorea and the ICDDR,B to conduct a field trial inBangladesh.AVANT Immunotherapeutics Inc. maintains very closecontact with the U.S. Department of Defence as it hasbeen working on several U.S. defence department’sprojects aimed to provide better health care to theU.S. Army personnel. To develop CholeraGradeTM as atraveller’s vaccine to be used predominantly bysoldiers, has been one of the goals of AVANTImmunotherapeutics Inc. This has been mentioned by thecompany President Dr. Una Ryan, in her report to theU.S. House of Representative’s Biological WarfarePrograms on October 23, 2001 (8). Thus the ICDDR,B’sresearch on Peru-15 demonstrates the use ofBangladeshis as experimental guinea pigs for a productto be used by the soldiers of the US Army. Has thisinformation been disclosed by the ICDDR,B to thepeople of Bangladesh? One wonders.A research carried out covertly on Bangladeshis onbehalf of a foreign military constitutes violation ofthe national sovereignty of Bangladesh. Bangladeshishave a right to demand full accountability andtransparency from the ICDDR,B regarding the ongoingvaccine project Peru-15. Thus a detailed informationon the parties involved in this vaccine such as AVANTImmunotherapeitics Inc and its relation to the U.S.Department of Defence, the role of the Americandirected IVI of South Korea, objectives of the trialand rights of the vaccine participants in the trialand future marketing of the vaccine. Incidentally, Dr.John Clemens, Director of the IVI had previouslyworked as an epidemiologist at the ICDDR,B and is aclose associate of the ICDDR,B’s director Dr. DavidSack. Both were deeply involved in the unethicalresearch related to the Swedish cholera vaccinesperformed on the Bangladeshis. This would be discussedin detail in section 3.The ICDDR,B’s collaboration with the Israel DefenceForce Collaborative activities among a group of scientistsemployed by the Government of Sweden, the Swedishcompany SBL-Vaccin AB, members of the Israel DefenceForce and a number of the scientists from the ICDDR,Bhave been going on for several years with a view todevelop a vaccine against diarrhoea caused byenterotoxigenic Escherichia coli (ETEC) which Israelrequires for its soldiers. This has been documented intwo scientific publications from USA and UK (9, 10).Dr. Ann-Mari Svennerholm, a female scientist fromSweden’s state-run Gothenburg University, had beenworking for several years with the Israel DefenceForce. They had been testing the same ETEC-vaccine,which Dr. Ann-Mari Svennerholm and her colleagues atthe ICDDR,B had been developing. Dr. Ann-MariSvennerholm and her principal Bangladeshi co-workerDr. Firdausi Qadri had also tested the same lot of thehighly expensive ETEC vaccine (supplied by Sweden’sSBL-Vaccin AB) on the Bangladeshi citizens using themas human guinea pigs. These activities unequivocallyestablish the close scientific collaboration that isprevailing between the ICDDR,B and Israel via Sweden.The Swedish scientists Dr. Ann-Mari Svennerholm, herhusband Dr. Jan Holmgren and a number of theirsubordinate employees from the University ofGothenburg have been working at the ICDDR,B since1979. Their principal contact persons during all theseyears at the ICDDR,B had been its present director Dr.David Sack, Dr. Firdausi Qadri, a Bangladeshi citizenand Dr. John Albert, an Australian expatriate ofIndian origin who worked for ten years (1989-1999).The Swedish scientists Drs. Holmgren and Svennerholmare deeply associated with SBL-Vaccin AB. In the shareholder’s meeting on April 14, 2000, SBL-Vaccin AB’sPresident Mr. S. Andreasson disclosed that the companyhad been trying the ETEC-vaccine on a large number ofIsraeli soldiers (11). The ICDDR,B’s director Dr.David Sack also works for this company (5). How muchactivities are these Swedish scientists and theirICDDR,B associates carrying out inside Bangladesh onbehalf of Israel is any body’s guess.The ICDDR,B collaborates with Sweden’s KarolinskaInstitute, whose vice-chancellor was also the chairmanof SBL-Vaccin AB supplying vaccines to the IsraelDefence Force (9). Also, Karolinska Institute has beenmaliciously engaged in slandering the Muslims (12).Israel has extensive programmes in biological warfareand has reported to have developed “ethnic” bulletsselectively killing the Arabs (13). In the 1980’s theICDDR,B violated the foreign policy of the Governmentof Bangladesh and collaborated with the apartheidregime of South Africa, which in turn had an extensivecollaboration with Israel in areas of biologicalwarfare (14).One wonders whether the ICDDR,B and the scientists ofthe Government of Sweden working at the ICDDR,B haverevealed their Israeli connection to the Government ofBangladesh and have obtained official permission fromthe Government of Bangladesh to carry out suchcollaborative research ventures.Developing vaccines for rich tourists and soldiersviolating the human rights of the poor In 1985 the ICDDR,B had tried oral cholera vaccines on90000 women and children of Matlab, Bangladesh (15).The Government of Bangladesh had permitted this trial,as it needed a cholera vaccine providing long termimmunity to the people of Bangladesh who suffer fromcholera (16). Two Swedish governmental scientists fromGothenburg University (Dr. Jan Holmgren and his wifeAnn-Mari Svennerholm) and two expatriate scientists atthe ICDDR,B (Drs. David Sack and John Clemens) wereprimarily associated with the trial. The SwedishDepartment of Defence had been intimately associatedwith the diarrhoeal research of the Swedish scientistsat the ICDDR,B by providing money, materials andmanpower (17, 18 ). The trial had violated theDeclaration of Helsinki concerning ethics inbiomedical research involving human subjects on anumber of counts (19). Firstly, no protocol to recordside effects was maintained, even though the trialparticipants had suffered and complained. Secondly, noproper informed consent was taken from the trialparticipants. Thirdly, in many cases coercive tacticswere applied. Fourthly, pregnant women were immunisedand no pregnancy test was carried out. The vaccine,administered by the neutralisation of gastric acid,had produced side effects and even a death had beenreported in the Bangladeshi press (20). Finally, thevaccine consisting of a large number of killed choleracells and the B subunit of cholera toxin (BS-WC) costseveral dollars. It was extremely expensive and beyondthe reach of the Bangladeshis.The protective efficacy of the oral cholera vaccine(WC-BS) was short lived, only observed during theinitial period of lean cholera incidences and rapidlydeclined afterwards (21). It was practicallyineffective in children, the targeted population inheavily endemic areas like Bangladesh. Aftermonitoring for one year, it was found that morechildren (3-6 years) in the WC-BS group got cholerathan those in other groups including the placebo (21).The real objective of the trial was to develop avaccine for soldiers and tourists from rich countrieswho may require short-term protection at any cost.Since 1990, the Government of Sweden had been makinghuge profit by marketing this vaccine to soldiers andrich tourists through its vaccine producing laboratorySBL-Vaccin AB. It is sold under the trade names of“Dukoral” and “SBL cholera vaccine” at an enormouscost of Swedish crowns 450 (app. USD 65-75, dependingon the exchange rate). The vaccine had been sold tothe US Army for its soldiers in its war against Iraq(22). Ironically the vaccine was tested in Bangladeshfor use by the poor! To market the vaccine, SBL-VaccinAB had stated in an information sheet in 1996 that thevaccine could be used upon pregnant women, thussupporting the original unethical intention of usingBangladeshi pregnant women for medical research. Ifpregnant women were excluded from the trial, aswritten by Drs. Holmgren, Svennerholm and theirICDDR,B associates in 1986 (15), then how can it bestated in 1996 that the vaccine is safe for pregnantwomen! In addition, the trial did not have anyprovisions for recording side effects (23). Thereality of the matter is that the whole vaccineresearch was an exercise in fraud !Exploitation of Bangladeshi women as experimentalguinea pigs Although cholera can affect both men and women, thetrial had predominantly selected females as vaccinerecipients (15). All male individuals above 15 yearsof age were excluded. No scientific explanation ofthis sex bias has been provided by the Swedishscientists and their ICDDR,B associates. However, Dr.Holmgren on a programme on the Swedish National Radiojustified the exclusive use of the Bangladeshi womenby stating that men were not available as they workoutside their homes (24). The Bangladeshi women aremostly Muslims. They work at home and are easilyaccessible. So they can be used to test vaccines. Thisis an excuse to exploit women when it is convenient todo so because of their social and religious status. Itis worthwhile to point out that in the 1970’s theIndian scientists had carried out a cholera vaccinetrial on a large number of participants involving101,030 volunteers of neighbouring West Bengal (25).The Indian study did not display any sex bias asalmost equal number of men and women had participated.If the Indian scientists can carry out an effectivevaccine trial without exerting any sex bias, why hadthe Swedish scientists and their American associatesof the ICDDR,B failed to do so? The answer lies in theracist attitude of the Swedish scientists and theirAmerican associates of the ICDDR,B towards thecoloured women of Bangladesh. It has to be emphasisedthat the poor women of Bangladesh are not born fortesting highly expensive western drugs and vaccines!Their dignity as human beings should be recognised andrespected as defined in the Universal Declaration ofHuman Rights.The trial and the protest Protests against the trial had been launched in thepress and on the radio both in Sweden and inBangladesh in the 1980’s (20, 23, 24, 26-41). InJanuary 1987, hundreds of leading academicians,politicians and social activists of Bangladesh(including Mr. Mohammed Nasim, Home Minister, TheGovernment of Bangladesh, 1999-2000) had sent aprotest letter to the Swedish Prime Minister Mr.Ingvar Carlsson concerning the use of Bangladeshis asexperimental animals by Dr. Holmgren, Ann-MariSvennerholm and their ICDDR,B associates (Postalregistration no: 56179, Stockholm, Sweden; January 7,1987).Dr. Holmgren’s accumulation of massive wealth throughthe cholera vaccine trialDrs. Jan Holmgren and his wife Ann-Mari Svennerholmclaim to be the inventor of this vaccine Dukoral (42).Dr. Holmgren has illegally obtained a patent oncholera toxin B subunit (CTB) of the vaccine Dukoral,in a number of countries including Sweden and USA (TheUS Patent # 5268276 dated Dec 7, 1993). He hadconcealed in his patent application information on thefinancial support from WHO that he had received forhis work on CTB (43) . Besides he had applied as aprivate person concealing his place of employment. Hedraws large sum of money as royalty from the sale ofthe vaccine Dukoral that includes CTB. On 29 June 1998Dr. Holmgren had obtained for his CTB a cash ofSwedish crowns 25.6 million (appx. 3-4 million USdollars) and agreement on a large number of futureshares from the owner of the Swedish company SBLVaccin AB (44). But the vaccine Dukoral was possibleonly because of the trial that was performed on 90,000women and children of Bangladesh. WHO and a number ofgovernments such as USA, Japan, Canada and Bangladeshhad funded this vaccine trial. But the Swedish vaccineproducers (SBL-Vaccin and Active Biotech) had deniedthis fact and instead had stated falsely that SBL “hasfinanced development and clinical testing withoutexternal assistance” (44). Thus, the marketing of thevaccine Dukoral is illegal as it involves cheating thefinancial donors such as WHO and several governments(USA, Canada, Japan and Bangladesh) and 90 000 trialparticipants of Bangladesh. Dr. Holmgren has beenworking as an “expert” in WHO’s programmes ondiarrhoea and vaccines for several years. Dr. DavidSack of the ICDDR,B works for the Swedish company SBLVaccin AB (5). Thus a racketeering is going on inwhich the Swedish governmental and privateorganisations (SBL-Vaccin AB), two Swedishgovernmental scientists (Dr. Holmgren and wifeAnn-Mari Svennerholm) and their ICDDR,B associates(Drs. David Sack and John Clemens) had violated thehuman rights of the poor people of Bangladesh. Theyhad used them as substitutes for laboratory animals totest highly expensive biological materials with a viewto make profits. Dr. Holmgren, Dr. Ann-MariSvennerholm and SBL-Vaccin AB must return all theill-gotten money they have made not only to the donors(WHO and several governments), but also to 90 000 poorwomen and children of Bangladesh.The ICDDR,B hijacks funds from donors to developvaccines for soldiers and rich tourists The ICDDR,B had “hijacked” millions and millions ofdollars from donors such as WHO, the governments ofJapan, Canada and USA (15) for the development of acholera vaccine for soldiers and rich tourists. Thetax payers of these countries had given money to theICDDR,B so that the poor people of Bangladesh do notsuffer from the scourge of diarrhoea. But the ICDDR,Bhad utilised that fund to satisfy the greed of a fewinterested persons, who want to make money byexploiting the poor under the slogan of “combatingdiarrhoea”.The ICDDR,B’s Collaboration with the apartheid regimeof South Africa The ICDDR,B had carried out collaborative research onVibrio cholerae in the 1980’s with the minority whiteapartheid regime of South Africa, grossly violatingthe foreign policy of the government of Bangladesh(14). Numerous articles protesting this collaborativeresearch had appeared in the Bangladeshi newspapersand magazines in the 1980s (27-33, 35, 36). In 1998the Truth and Reconciliation Commission of theRepublic of South Africa has confirmed that theapartheid regime of South Africa had used Vibriocholerae as an agent of biological warfare against themajority black population of the country (45). InJanuary 1999 the BBC-World TV had shown a dramaticfilm called “The Plague Wars” where these facts havebeen documented. Why was a foreign expert in areas ofbacteriological warfare (Dr. P.C.B. Turnbull) from awell known biological weapons research centre of theWest invited by the ICDDR,B to come to Bangladesh? TheICDDR,B had not given any satisfactory explanations onthis matter (46). Is the ICDDR,B carrying outbacteriological warfare or testing agents ofbacteriological warfare upon the people of Bangladesh?The ICDDR,B spreads communal hatred between the Hindusand the MuslimsThe American scientists (John Clemens and Roger I.Glass) of the ICDDR, B had been engaged in spreadingcommunal hatred by reporting that the Hindus get morecholera and gastric diseases than the Muslims (47,48). How rigorous were these studies performed to makea generalisation about the Hindus? Are these Americanscientists professionally competent to assess greatreligions like Islam and Hinduism? This isscientifically erroneous as cholera can kill allpeople irrespective of their religions. This diseasewas highly prevalent in Europe and America in thenineteenth century killing thousands of theChristians.Publication of useless and repetitious materials to“please” uncritical donorsOften repetitious and useless “research” paperslacking both novelty and practical values arepublished in certain western journals where theICDDR,B has influence. Such useless publications onlyhelp to promote scientific careers of the core membersof the ICDDR,B who may brag about their long list ofpublications as signs of accomplishments. Also,uncritical donors can be impressed by such long listof publications. Many publications are nothing but“rediscoveries” like old wine in a new bottle.Ironically, as reported in Bangladesh’s largestcirculating daily the Ittefaq, most Bangladeshis donot know the difference between “diarrhoea andcholera” (49).Behind the claims for the development of “the oralrehydration therapy”The ICDDR, B boasts itself of having developed “theoral rehydration therapy”. But it was just a“rediscovery” made in 1968 (50). The originalpublication of “the oral rehydration therapy” was madeby a Bengali scientist Dr. Chatterjee of India fifteenyears ago in 1953 (51). In a similar way, choleratoxin, which causes cholera, was discovered by aBengali scientist Dr. S. N. De of Kolkata (52). Thewestern scientists are very good in “muscling aside”scientists from the developing countries by all meansand do not hesitate to rob their ideas and inventions.Sheltering antique smugglersThe ICDDR,B and its predecessor CRL offer shelter toantique smugglers who do not hesitate to plunder vastamount of the cultural heritage of Bangladesh. Thecase of the American scientist David Nalin who hadsmuggled objects from the Bangladeshi museums is wellknown and had been reported in the Bangladeshi presssuch as the Bichitra in 1980.The ICDDR,B: a threat to regional securityFinally, a word of caution has to be put forward. Manypeople of Bangladesh have their relatives inneighbouring India and vice versa. These people arenaturally concerned about the health and welfare oftheir close-ones on the other side of the border.Infectious diseases can easily spread across theborder. Therefore, the activities of aforeign-dominated centre such as the ICDDR,B dealingwith highly pathogenic micro-organisms need to bemonitored with great caution so that Bangladesh canavoid diplomatic problems with her immediateneighbour.Under-developing Bangladeshi institutions It is tragic that while the ICDDR,B squanders awaymillions and millions of dollars, the Bangladeshiresearch centres have little fund to functionadequately. The pathetic plight of the Bangladeshiscientific community was described by a person noother than the eminent scientist Dr. Wajed Miah, thehusband of the former Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina inthe Bangladeshi press in 1998. Recently, a professorfrom Rajshahi University has appealed for help overthe Internet for the University’s research activitiesfrom the University’s old students and teachers livingabroad.On the most effective means to combat diarrhoeaIn 1988 the Bangladeshi members of the StandingCommittee of the ICDDR,B, after realising the dismalperformance of the Swedish oral vaccine, had expressedstrong reservations. According to an article publishedin Bangladesh, internationally reputed scientists suchas Professors Nurul Islam, Kamaluddin Ahmed and MajorGeneral M.R. Chowdhury had questioned whether choleracan be effectively controlled by vaccination (53).They commented, “Instead of vaccination, emphasisshould be placed on health and sanitary measures alongwith the supply of pure drinking water. In this waycholera was eradicated from Sanghai, The PeoplesRepublic of China. People believe that by takingvaccine cholera is being eradicated. But the realityis different”.In this respect the opinion of a pioneering Americancholera scientist Professor R.A. Finkelstein on theSwedish oral vaccine is worth citing. “As these deadoral cholera vaccines are expensive, difficult toadminister, insufficiently protective, and potentiallynon-reproducible (they were constructed arbitrarilyand there are no bioassays that reliably predictefficacy), the reader should not come away with theimpression that they offer a solution to the choleraproblem in the Americas or elsewhere......oralrehydration therapy is effective and relatively cheap.Intelligent epidemiological control measures can help,but the best solution resides in providing safedrinking water and sewage disposal. This can be anexpensive investment, but it is one that will alsoreduce the burden of other diarrheal diseases, which,in some heavily afflicted areas, kill half thechildren before they reach the age of five” (54).All what has been described above are scientificallydocumented and valid. About twenty five years agoNational Professor Nurul Islam had written a letter inthe British medical journal Lancet expressing hiscritical viewpoints behind the establishment of such acentre (55). Time has proven the correctness ofProfessor Nurul Islam, the founder of the IPGMR (nowknown as Bangabandhu Medical University). Do thepeople of Bangladesh need a centre like the ICDDR,Bworking for the interest of rich nations whilecollecting money using the name of the poor?References:The Independent, Dhaka, Bangladesh, 3 January 2000 W. E. van Heyningen and J. R. Seal, Cholera: TheAmerican Scientific Experience 1947-1980 WestviewPress, Boulder, Colorado, USA, 1983, p 104. ibid. p292 ibid p294 The Internet press release, Active Biotech/SBL VaccinAB, Sweden, 29 March , 2000. Kenner JR, Coster TS, Taylor DN, Trofa AF, Barrera-OroM, Hyman T, Adams JM, Beattie DT, Killeen KP, SpriggsDR, et al. 1995. Peru-15, an improved live attenuatedoral vaccine candidate for Vibrio cholerae O1. JInfect Dis. 172:1126-9. Avant Immunotherapeutics Inc. USA, Business Wire, 20January 2004. The U.S. Congress, Subcommittee on National Security,Veterans Affairs and International Affairs, Hearing onBiological Warfare Defense Vaccine Research &Developmental Programs, 23 October 2001. Cohen D, Orr N, Haim M, Ashkenazi S, Robin G, GreenMS, Ephros M, Sela T, Slepon R, Ashkenazi I, TaylorDN, Svennerholm AM, Eldad A, Shemer J. 2000. Safetyand immunogenicity of two different lots of the oral,killed enterotoxigenic escherichia coli-cholera toxinB subunit vaccine in Israeli young adults. Infectionand Immunity, 68:4492-7. Qadri F, Wenneras C, Ahmed F, Asaduzzaman M, Saha D,Albert MJ, Sack RB, Svennerholm A. 2000. Safety andimmunogenicity of an oral, inactivated enterotoxigenicEscherichia coli plus cholera toxin B subunit vaccinein Bangladeshi adults and children.Vaccine. 18:2704-12. The Internet press release, Active Biotech/SBL VaccinAB, Sweden,: 14 April , 2000; p7. Lindkvist, P. 1999. Risk factors for infection withHelicobacter pylori. PhD Thesis,Karolinska Institute, Stockholm, Sweden. Mahnaimi, U and Colvin M, The Sunday Times (London,UK), 15 November 1998. Turnbull PC, Lee JV, Miliotis MD, Still CS, IsaacsonM, Ahmad QS. 1985. In vitro and in vivo cholera toxinproduction by classical and El Tor isolates of Vibriocholerae. Journal of Clinical Microbiology, 21:884-90.Clemens JD, Sack DA, Harris JR, Chakraborty J, KhanMR, Stanton BF, Kay BA, Khan MU, Yunus M, Atkinson W,et al. 1986. Field trial of oral cholera vaccines inBangladesh. Lancet. 19;2(8499):124-7. Holmgren J and Svennerholm AM. 1985. Vaccinedevelopment for control of cholera and related toxininduced diarrhoeal diseases. In Micribial toxins anddiarrhoeal diseases. London: Pitman (Ciba FoundationSymposium) 112:242-70. SAREC Report on Developmental Research in Sweden,(Editor: Cecilia Molander) R2: 1981, Stockholm, SwedenSvennerholm AM., Holmgren J, Sack DA, Bardhan PK.Intestinal antibody response in humans afterimmunisation with cholera B subunit. Lancet 1982 i:305-8. WHO: Biomedical research: a revised code of ethics.WHO Cronicle 1976; 30:360-2. One death many questions. The Weekly Ekota (Dhaka) 3May 1985 Clemens JD, Harris JR, Sack DA, Chakraborty J, AhmedF, Stanton BF, Khan MU, Kay BA, Huda N, Khan MR, etal. 1988. Field trial of oral cholera vaccines inBangladesh: results of one year of follow-up. Journalof Infectious Diseases. 158:60-9. Finkelstein RA. 1995. Why do we not yet have asuitable vaccine against cholera? Advances inExperimental Medicine and Biology. 371B:1633-40. Radio Ellen: The Swedish State Radio Programme, 25April 1987. Radio Ellen: The Swedish State Radio Programme, 1November 1986. Pal SC, Deb BC, Sen Gupta PG, De SP, Sircar BK, Sen D,Sikdar SN. 1980. A controlled field trial of analuminum phosphate-adsorbed cholera vaccine inCalcutta. Bulletin of the World Health Organization.58(5):741-5. The Ittefaq, Dhaka, Bangladesh; April 4, 1985 The Sangbad, Dhaka, Bangladesh; 13 September 1986 The Azad, Dhaka, Bangladesh; 13 September 1986 The Janata, Dhaka, Bangladesh; 13 September 1986 The Sangram, Dhaka, Bangladesh; 13 September 1986 The Khabar, Dhaka, Bangladesh; 13 September 1986 The Banglar Bani, Dhaka, Bangladesh; 13 September 1986Nasser M. ICDDR,B: Healing or Killing? The DhakaCourier 11 July, 1986 Ali M: Bangladeshis as human guinea pigs: The Swedishconnection. The Dhaka Courier May 25, 1987; The International Centre for Diarrhoeal DiseaseResearch, Bangladesh. 1986. The Hygeia 2:5-12. Behind the mysterious activities of the ICDDR,B. TheWeekly Sandwip, Dhaka, 4 & 11 August 1986. Eklund A. De fosokstester nytt Svenskt vaccin. KvällsPosten (Malmo, Sweden) 21 Dec 1986. Hasan M. Vaccinforsok in Bangladesh. Upsala NyaTidning 23 April 1987. Bergman H. Vaccinprovning i Bangladesh: utan respektfor etiken. Göteborgs Posten, Gothenburg, Sweden, 8May 1987 Bergman H: Kvinnor blev forsoksdjur. Dagens Nyheter,Stockholm, Sweden , 16 February 1988 Eklöf G. 1987. Fattiga som försökskaniner.Internationalen No 21, p7. Information on Dukoral, SBL-Vaccin AB, Sweden, 1996 Sanchez J, Holmgren J. 1989. Recombinant system forover expression of cholera toxin B subunit in Vibriocholerae as a basis for vaccine development.Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences U S A.86(2):481-5. The Internet press release, Active Biotech/SBL VaccinAB, June 28, 1998. The International Herald Tribune June 14, 1998 Eeckels R. Brief account of the major allegations inthe press against the ICDDR,B.The Dhaka Courier. 29August 1986, p9-11. Clemens J, Albert MJ, Rao M, Huda S, Qadri F, Van LoonFP, Pradhan B, Naficy A, Banik A. 1996.Sociodemographic, hygienic and nutritional correlatesof Helicobacter pylori infection of young Bangladeshichildren. Pediatric Infectious Diseases Journal.15:1113-8. Glass RI, Becker S, Huq MI, Stoll BJ, Khan MU, MersonMH, Lee JV, Black RE. 1982. Endemic cholera in ruralBangladesh, 1966-1980. American Journal ofEpidemiology. 116:959-70. The Ittefaq, Dhaka, Bangladesh. 13 September 1987. Nalin DR, Cash RA, Islam R, Molla M, Phillips RA.1968. Oral maintenance therapy for cholera in adults.Lancet. 17;2(7564):370-3. Chatterjee HN. 1953. Control of vomiting in choleraand oral replacement of fluid. Lancet. 265(6795):1063.De SN. 1959. Enterotoxicity of bacteria-freeculture-filtrate of Vibrio cholerae. Nature183(4674):1533-4. The Sangbad, Dhaka, Bangladesh, 23 April ,1988. Finkelstein RA. 1992. Combating epidemic cholera.Science 257(5072):862. Islam N, Mehtab H, Muttalib MA, Chowdhury Z. 1978.Cholera Research in Bangladesh. The Lancet. p1208.