iClinic - September 5, 2000
Marjolein Harvey
DA Deputy-Spokesperson on HIV/AIDS Sandy Kalyan said Cooper is responsible for a bizarre conspiracy theory pulling together the death of John F Kennedy, alien invasions and AIDS into a plot by renegade CIA members to reduce world population.
But Minister of health spokesperson Patricia Lambert was reported as saying by Sapa that the fact that the minister had passed on the document, which was sent unsolicited and anonymously to the ministry, did not mean she identified with it.
The document is a chapter from the book "Behold, a Pale Horse", by William Cooper, who claims the Illuminati, an alleged international conspiracy to take over the world, introduced AIDS to Africa in 1978 through the smallpox vaccine in an attempt to reduce the African population.
"The minister receives a great deal of information from many sources, which she distributes to the provinces. As far as we're concerned there's nothing unusual at all [in this case], because it's part of stuff she routinely sends to the provinces so they can be aware of the kind of stuff that's coming into her office," Lambert told Sapa.
"The minister has not given an indication of her intentions, but it is greatly worrying that this document, which rightly belongs in a rubbish bin, should be distributed with apparently serious intent at a high level," said Kalyan in a DA statement.
Kalyan says that while Cooper does not dispute the existence of AIDS, he does argue that AIDS is a plot by the West to destroy Africa, and he also argues that a cure exists and will be used when enough people have died.
"To say the least, this document does not contribute towards a realistic understanding of AIDS and a healthy debate about ways to counteract it," says Kalyan.
"We call on the minister to explain her actions and issue a firm statement distancing herself from this document," she says.
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