The SARS Epidemic: Are

Viruses Taking the Rap for

Industrial Poisons?1
December 7, 2003 By Jim West

1
This is an interesting article from 17 years ago and indicates how the field of
toxicology is either avoided altogether or neglected in investigation of disease
outbreaks. Instead “viruses” are identified as causative agents with dubious,
fake or bought science. I have explained in previous writings that “viruses” have
been mislabelled and misunderstood as causative agents of disease within a
flawed “germ theory” of disease. This particular model of disease is extremely
lucrative and was carved out in the early 20th century by the money power of
big oil. The more accurate and correct models and theories of health and
disease have been pushed aside and forgotten. Disease has three or four
fundamental causes: a) lack of vitality and vigour in the life force due to
insufficient nutrition, deficiency in essential nutrients, vitamins, minerals and
so on, b) the build up of morbid and waste materials in the body due to
violations and excesses in diet and insufficien motion or exercise to ensure
proper flow of blood and lymph, c) cell toxicity brought about through the air
and environment, food supply, inoculation (gaseous pollution, particulate
matter, chemicalised food, additives, pesticides, fertilizers, vaccinations,
electromagnetic fields and so on). These are the primary causes of disease. We
can add a fourth which is the heart-soul-brain, the realm of the psyche, feelings
and emotions. This interfaces with the physical and biochemical aspects of the
body. Thus, moods of anxiety, fear and the likes can induce disease. As for
bacteria and “viruses”, then they come on to the scene of disease as recyclers,
detoxifiers, repair agents, communications messengers and so on and are not
themselves the direct cause of disease. The “infectious disease (contagion)”
model has been made the overarching framework of medicine in the 21st
century. This will—for its architects—facilitate a trillion-dollar vaccine industry
on the basis that every person on the planet is a health security risk unless
vaccinated. It also provides a basis for restructuring the global economy as well
as restricting and controlling social and economic activity.
Abu ʿIyaaḍ
19 Ramaḍān 1441 / 12 March 2020
 THE SARS EPIDEMIC, VIRUSES AND INDUSTRIAL POLLUTION — 2

On March 15, 2003 the World Health Organization (WHO) issued a

global alert warning of a new virus spreading through Asia and
causing Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS), a potentially
fatal disease, similar to pneumonia. Photos from China depicting
ballet dancers and bridal parties wearing white masks appeared in
western newspapers while health departments across the country
issued notices to hospitals detailing the symptoms of the new
virus and asking for immediate notification of suspect cases. Until
the global alert, reports referred to an “unknown virus” first
striking in Guangdong Province, China, although some reports
place the origin in the Philippines. With the March 15 WHO report,
the SARS virus became official and reports of new cases came
flooding in.

By late May, officials had reported over 8,000 cases worldwide,

with almost 700 deaths.1 Of the 65 suspected SARS victims in the
US, all but a few had traveled by airplane to areas where the
outbreak has been most severe, including mainland China, Hong
Kong, Singapore, Hanoi and Toronto. The Chinese economy has
taken a hit and some Chinese airline routes were virtually empty
due to SARS fear.2

Serious Drama
The SARS outbreak has revived discussion of forced quarantine.
According to a study by the American Public Health Laboratory
Association and quoted by Senator Edward M. Kennedy, Democrat
of Massachusetts, few cities have enough hospital space to
quarantine patients in the event of a large-scale outbreak of an
infectious disease like SARS. According to Lawrence O. Gostin,
director of the Center for Law and the Public’s Health at
Georgetown University’s Law Center, public health laws date back
 THE SARS EPIDEMIC, VIRUSES AND INDUSTRIAL POLLUTION — 3

to the 19th century and are “wholly inadequate to deal with an

emergency.”

“The need for public health law reform is urgent,” said Mr. Gostin.
“It should have provisions for surveillance, vaccination, treatment,
isolation and quarantine in a way that gives decisive powers to
health authorities while respecting the Constitution.” So far, all
but one of the SARS victims has submitted to voluntary isolation.
The one exception, a New York man, was involuntarily contained
until his symptoms passed. Federal quarantine law now includes
SARS among its disease guidelines.

Mr. Gostin was the author of the draconian Emergency State

Health Powers Act, which has been adopted (fortunately in
softened form) by 22 states. According to Gostin, “The need for
effective state compulsory power is beyond doubt. But that’s not a
given in our country, which is now so tied to the rhetoric of
individual rights. It seems we’ve lost the tradition of the common
good.”3

Kill The Carrier

In China, a country where the “rhetoric of individual rights” is
lacking, the government has announced it would kill SARS carriers
who refused quarantine.4 Malaysian officials threatened
imprisonment.5 In Hong Kong, officials motivated by the “tradition
of common good” have suggested that “families of SARS patients
be rounded up, and sent to quarantine camps.”6 In Nanjing, China,
10,000 have been quarantined, and in Beijing 16,000 as of May 6,
2003.7
 THE SARS EPIDEMIC, VIRUSES AND INDUSTRIAL POLLUTION — 4

Official Disease Definition

SARS means “Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome.” This wide-
open definition encompasses many diseases common in the
affected regions. Symptoms range from flu-like to pneumonia.8 Dr.
Frank Plummer, director of the National Microbiology Laboratory
in Canada stated, “Of course, the case definition of SARS is a little
loose.”9

The World Health Organization (WHO) has defined SARS in the

following way: a) a person presenting after 1 November 2002 with
history of high fever (greater than 100.4° F) and cough or breathing
difficulty; or b) a person who was not autopsied but with acute
respiratory disease and who has been in close contact within 10
days of someone who had SARS.10

This definition alone should give thoughtful readers cause to

question the SARS phenomenon. Firstly, is a temperature of 1.8
degrees F over normal really a “high fever”? The CDC used “mild
fever” in their case definition. Secondly, should WHO install a
historical bias before the history of SARS is even written? WHO has
made it impossible to place the discovery of SARS before
November 2002, or even think of it as preceding that date, thus
guaranteeing its status as an “emerging epidemic.”

In the US, the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) defines SARS
differently: a) Illness of unknown aetiology [cause not already
ascertained] and onset after February 1, 2003, AND, b)
Temperature over 100.5 degrees F, AND, c) respiratory illness,
AND, d) Recent contact with a SARS patient or travel to epidemic
region.

This defines the new epidemic as an arrival from southeast Asia,

China or Toronto. This definition obviates any need to test for the
 THE SARS EPIDEMIC, VIRUSES AND INDUSTRIAL POLLUTION — 5

SARS virus in patients who contracted pneumonia before

February 2003, AND, who had not traveled to the Orient or met
such a traveler. With this definition, the diagnosis of any SARS-like
case, determined previously to be of non-viral origin, would be
secured from contradictions. The usual one-disease, one-cause
theme for epidemics is thereby maintained.

SARS Virology
Due to the wide-ranging definition, the only unique quality of
SARS is the associated virus. But association is not enough and a
single association is not a rigorous, convincing proof.

On April 16, 2003, WHO announced that SARS virus, a member of

the coronavirus family, was definitely causative for the disease.
The report referred to a study carried out by a team led by Dr.
Albert Osterhaus, the director of virology at Erasmus Medical
Centre in Rotterdam. Media reports used the terms “unequivocal,”
“definite,” and “beyond a doubt” to describe the work at Erasmus.

Osterhaus reported that his team infected one group of monkeys

with SARS virus, a second group with the metapneumonvirus (also
found in some SARS patients), and a third group with SARS virus
and then the metapneumovirus. The monkeys infected with the
metapneumonvirus alone developed mild symptoms, compared
to the “full-blown disease” seen in the first group. The third group
“did not develop a more serious version of SARS.” From this
Osterhaus concluded, “the coronavirus alone is capable of causing
the typical symptoms…”11
 THE SARS EPIDEMIC, VIRUSES AND INDUSTRIAL POLLUTION — 6

Virology In Doubt
Press releases about the “definitive” Erasmus study, distributed
by AP, WHO, Nature Magazine and others, cannot be taken
seriously without further details. Here are a few unanswered
questions:

a) Since laboratory virus stocks are poisoned with antibiotics, or

are derived by a process that utilizes poisons, then which poisons
were present in Erasmus University virus stocks?

b) Were the toxicities of virus stocks included in the assessment of

the study results?

c) How was the virus stock obtained?

d) Was a comprehensive test for other viruses performed on the

experimental stock?

e) Are the laboratory-produced viruses chimeric viruses, that is,

synthetic viruses?

f) What quantity of virus medium was applied to each monkey;

that is, what multiple of real-world conditions?

g) What concentration of viruses were applied; that is, what

multiple of real-world conditions?

h) How was the medium applied; would the application method

be possible in real-world conditions?

i) Which chemicals were added to the medium in addition to

antibiotics? Do these interact or promote the toxicity of other
chemicals in the virus stock?
 THE SARS EPIDEMIC, VIRUSES AND INDUSTRIAL POLLUTION — 7

j) How many monkeys were in each group? Were there enough for
a valid assessment?

k) What was the condition of each monkey prior, during and at the
conclusion of the experiment? Monkeys have been regarded as
poor experimental subjects because of their intelligent sensitivity,
and maltreatment received from handlers and distributors. Stress
alone, incurred by the monkeys due to cruelty, cage conditions
and poor nutrition, can cause illness or susceptibility.

l) Was the virus used in the experiment actually “isolated”? The

word, when used by virologists, means something entirely
different from the meaning assumed by non-virologists (including
doctors), and this word serves as the basis for misinformation
regarding virus proof. The details of “isolation of the virus” need
to be explained.

m) Were any of the experimental animals, or tests, rerun after

unexpected results occurred? What were the circumstances?

At this writing, one further detail of the Erasmus study has been
obtained, “Osterhaus and colleagues completed the final ones
[Koch Postulates] when they infected two macaque monkeys with
the virus from a SARS patient and isolated it from the animals.” 12

So, the “definite” proof is based on two monkeys injected with the
supposed SARS virus. What happened to independent
confirmation, randomized controls, and probability analysis that
determine the possibility that a test on two monkeys is valid? The
hyped language, the major institutions and funding sources
involved, juxtaposed against the meager number of monkeys in
the experiment, point to extreme bias in the search for a microbial
demon. I look forward to more details of the Erasmus study.
 THE SARS EPIDEMIC, VIRUSES AND INDUSTRIAL POLLUTION — 8

As of late May, tests for the virus in Toronto “failed to spot a

targeted virus in 30% to 50% of infected patients.”13 This was
attributed to inaccurate testing methods, not the absence of the
virus. Nevertheless, no matter how often SARS virus is found, the
virus is present only in trace amounts and not in quantities large
enough to cause disease, leaving infection and pathology in
doubt.14

Convenient Scapegoats
In spite of the nagging inconsistencies in the viral theory for SARS,
scientists and the press have gone one step further with reports
that SARS originated in a live meat market in China’s Guangdong
province in November, 2002. Researchers in Hong Kong and
Shenzhen, China found a virus that is “almost identical” to the
human SARS coronavirus in six masked palm civets (cat-sized
animals) and a raccoon dog sold in these open air markets,15 a
convenient discovery that will bring official pressure on China’s
traditional farmers and food-sellers, now in competition with new,
“sanitary” western-style supermarkets.

Viral demons are fair game for the media. Dramatic realities merge
with scenes from class B sci-fi movies, as doctors and nurses
scream through hospital wards, airports are closed and police
round up infected carriers. In China, such dreadful acts are all too
real. In addition to the proposed human executions, millions of
cats, dogs, farm animals and wildlife may be slaughtered to stop
the deadly viral plague. Precedent is found in Britain’s Mad Cow
and Hoof and Mouth epidemics, and supposed viral epidemics in
Malaysia and Taiwan during 1997-1998. In this scenario, medical
workers come to the rescue like soldiers, heroically primed to save
lives with deadly force.
 THE SARS EPIDEMIC, VIRUSES AND INDUSTRIAL POLLUTION — 9

The pharmaceutical companies, of course, are playing a leading

role. Roche, “the global leader in the $22-billion-a-year clinical-
diagnostics market” is developing a test that should be able to
“flag SARS in the first days of an infection, possibly even when the
virus isn’t causing symptoms.” This will allow officials “to identify
superspreaders (patients whose SARS infections are highly
transmissible) before they become superspreaders,” says a Roche
executive.16 As all diagnostic tests generate false positives, anyone
suffering from a fever and a cough risks being branded as a
modern Typhoid Mary should he or she submit to such a
procedure.

SARS Critics
In spite of the fearful headlines, the SARS paradigm has met
widespread criticism.

An insider, Dr. Frank Plummer, spilled the beans: “The director…

told The Scientist yesterday (April 10) that the new coronavirus
implicated as the cause of the disease is certainly around in the
environment but is unlikely to be the causative agent. Frank
Plummer is director of Canada’s National Microbiology Laboratory
in Winnipeg.”17

Plummer stated, “we are finding some of the best-characterized

[SARS disease] cases are negative [for the SARS virus]. So it’s
puzzling. As is the fact the amounts of virus we are finding, when
we find it, are very small–only detectable by very sensitive PCR.

“That’s what the majority of labs [nasopharyngeal swabs] around

the world are testing, it’s where you find most respiratory viruses.
It’s strange [that there’s so little virus there] because it seems to
be transmitted by close contact.”
 THE SARS EPIDEMIC, VIRUSES AND INDUSTRIAL POLLUTION — 10

After the announcement of the Erasmus study, Plummer stated,

“Once you conclude that this coronavirus is the sole cause of SARS
then you move into a different phase and you move to test only for
it. . . to the exclusion of other things. And I think. . . at least based
on what we’re seeing in Canada. . . it’s a little early to do that. We
are in many ways behaving as if this is the cause.”18

According to a CBC news report, “No classic respiratory or

bacterial respiratory pathogen was consistently identified.
Scientists have not definitively shown the new coronavirus causes
SARS. To do that, they need to see the virus in infected lung
samples from all patients and show the virus causes SARS in an
animal model.”19 Implicit in this statement is the fact that SARS
symptoms are not unique to the disease, or that tests were finding
other (non-SARS) pathogens in the victims, or tests were not
consistently performed for other pathogens.

Jon Rappoport, an independent journalist who has written for CBS

Healthwatch, writes, “This [SARS] insanity is multiplied beyond all
sense when you consider that, in Canada, they are now finding the
[SARS] coronavirus in ZERO PERCENT of diagnosed SARS cases.”20

Nicholas Regush, veteran journalist of ABC News, admits no

contact with Rappoport, yet writes, “We’re in very deep trouble…
the COMING OF SARS. Having been a member of the reporting
classes for many years, I can’t say that I’m surprised. More like
disappointed. Disgusted. Outraged.”21

Fintan Dunne, who edits a website entitled

www.SickOfDoctors.com, is also critical: “More of the hype
machine and further global economic damage, over a spurious
syndrome which is a drop in the disease ocean.”22
 THE SARS EPIDEMIC, VIRUSES AND INDUSTRIAL POLLUTION — 11

Dr. Donald Low, one of Canada’s leading infectious disease

experts and a key member of the SARS containment team,
described WHO’s policies for Toronto as “a bunch of bullshit” and
“inappropriate.”23

According to Peter Duesberg, the well-known microbiologist at

the University of California at Berkeley, the list of badly diagnosed,
yet strongly hyped epidemics is lengthy: Ebola, Hepatitis C, AIDS,
SMON, and others.24 According to the German virologist Stefan
Lanka, the list of pseudo-epidemics is nearly endless.25

Toxicology
The orthodox SARS paradigm completely omits and avoids
toxicology for good reason: SARS disease symptoms are identical
to pesticide and air pollution disease symptoms. And these
poisons correlate in time and place with SARS epidemics.

Only virology holds SARS together, and by including toxicology,

the virus theory of SARS can be entirely rebutted.

Airline Pesticides
As the SARS syndrome “appears to be spreading via air travel, the
CDC advised travelers to postpone any non-essential travel to
affected areas, which include China, Hong Kong, the Philippines,
Singapore, Thailand, and Vietnam, according to WHO.” 26

What most travelers don’t realize is that airlines routinely apply

pesticides to airplanes, especially those on Asian routes. Airlines
call their pesticide application “disinsection.” A US Department of
Transportation memo describes two methods of application:
“Either spray the aircraft cabin, with an aerosolized insecticide,
 THE SARS EPIDEMIC, VIRUSES AND INDUSTRIAL POLLUTION — 12

while passengers are on board or treat the aircraft’s interior

surfaces with a residual insecticide.” 27

On August 2, 2001, CNN reported on a lawsuit filed by United

Airlines stewardesses for damages caused by pesticides sprayed in
United Airlines planes on Australian and New Zealand routes.28 No
further mention of the lawsuit has appeared in the press.

However, on March 17, 2003, Pesticide Action Network Updates

Service (PANUPS) announced: “An airline flight to the tropics may
involve greater health risks. . . pesticides are routinely sprayed in
aircraft cabins by US airlines, sometimes over the heads of
passengers during flight.”29

Details on airline pesticide protocols for southeast Asian airline

flights emerge from the US Department of Transportation memo:
“Guam requires disinsection, but permits the residual method, of
all flights from the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana
Islands, Thailand, Philippines, Korea, Indonesia, Malaysia, the
Federated States of Micronesia, Papua New Guinea, Solomon
Islands, and the Republic of the Marshall Islands and, during
certain months, of flights from Taiwan, Korea and Japan.”30

The pesticides used in airlines are synthetic pyrethrin pesticides

(pyrethroids), which in some countries have been banned from
agricultural use.31 SARS symptoms are nearly identical to those of
pyrethrin pesticides, as shown in the table on Page 19.

There are other chemical risks found in aircraft. Diana Fairechild,

who worked decades for the airline industry and spent years
litigating against that industry over issues related to pesticide
protocols, describes the liabilities of airline travel on her website. 46
 THE SARS EPIDEMIC, VIRUSES AND INDUSTRIAL POLLUTION — 13

Airport Pollution
Airports are notoriously air polluted. A single airliner at take-off
emits tremendous volumes of pollutants.47 JFK airport in New
York City, has its own oil refinery on the airport grounds, nearly
two football fields in area. How common is that practice? Oil
refinery emissions correlate exceedingly well with recent so-called
viral disease epidemics. The West Nile virus epidemic was first
noticed in the neighborhoods beneath one of the busiest take-off
lanes in the US, La Guardia Airport, New York City.48

Industrial Emissions
The greatest SARS epidemic region in the world is the Guangdong
province of China. That heavily populated province also vies for
position as the most highly polluted region on earth, due to the
presence of oil refineries, metal smelters and other chemical
industries in a country with lower environmental standards.

Writing for The Atlantic Monthly, Mark Hertsgaard describes

Guangdong province as “A fiendish laboratory experiment that
was mushrooming beyond control. . . . Shanxi, a day’s journey
west of Beijing. . . the land. . . scalped, the water poisoned, the air
made toxic and dark. . . . At least five of the cities with the worst air
pollution in the world are in China. Sixty to 90 percent of the
rainfall in Guangdong. . . is acid rain. . . people’s lungs and nervous
systems are bombarded by an extraordinary volume and variety of
deadly poisons. One of every four deaths in China is caused by
lung disease.”49 Hertsgaard found that total suspended
particulates (an air pollution index) can be, in some cities in China,
12 times higher than in New York City. Obviously, non-viral forms
of SARS exist in Guangdong. SARS is far from atypical.
 THE SARS EPIDEMIC, VIRUSES AND INDUSTRIAL POLLUTION — 14

Deforestation by fire can also cause the respiratory problems

associated with SARS. Huge fires are set or occur accidentally in
Singapore, Malaysia and China. Major fires ravaged southeast Asia
in September 2002, just two months before officials announced
the SARS epidemic.50

Tan Ee Lyn (Reuters) describes the air environment in Hong Kong

and southern China, the major SARS epicenters: “[Title:] CHINA:
September 9, 2002, Thick smog shrouds Hong Kong, health
warning issued. [Text:]Hong Kong–Thick smog blanketed Hong
Kong last week, a clear sign that the territory and southern China
are still a long way from cleaning up their bad air. The government
urged people with respiratory problems to avoid heavily
congested traffic areas and cut back on outdoor physical activity.”

Toxicology = Virology
Even if a perfect (according to the rules of virology) laboratory
proof for virus causation existed, such proofs still involve high use
of artifice, far from the reality of everyday life. Even if SARS
virology could have isolated and properly identified a real virus,
questions still remain. A SARS virus may be a natural endogenous
virus (from within) serving a normal adaptive function. It might
not be the infectious, exogenous virus (from without) as described
by media hype.

Not well known, but well established, is the fact that virus-like
genetic material (RNA) is often expressed from poisoned cellular
tissue as an adaptive and defensive response to poisoning.51
Expressing virus-like genes is part of the cellular “SOS response”
of cells engaged in accelerated genetic recombination. 52 The so-
called SARS virus can be interpreted as such a genetic expression
occurring in humans, as well as the exotic animals, palm civet cats
 THE SARS EPIDEMIC, VIRUSES AND INDUSTRIAL POLLUTION — 15

and raccoon dogs sold in Guangdong live animal markets and

recently found positive for SARS.

Virus Is Us
The cutting-edge biochemist, Howard Urnovitz, views SARS virus
as human genes rearranged by pollution stress: “I do not see a
virus. I see a unique and complete rearrangement of genomic
elements. For example, when I look at what is believed to be the
gene sequence coding for the spike protein of this coronavirus, I
see a complicated gene rearrangement of a region of human
chromosome. As I did in our studies of Gulf War Syndrome, when I
see gene rearrangements like this, I immediately search for an
associated catastrophic environmental event that could have
caused such genomic rearrangement.”53 (Emphasis added.)

SARS epidemics correspond strongly with such “catastrophic

environmental events.”

SARS Redefined
SARS is not a unique disease, since its symptoms coincide with
pyrethrin poisoning and air pollution diseases.

Orthodox science damns itself by beginning with a virus

hypothesis when toxicological evidence is plentiful. Orthodox
journalism promotes the discovery of the “SARS virus” with little
criticism of the virology and a deafening silence regarding
toxicology.

Apparently the virus paradigm is a necessary cover for industrial

pollution. WHO’s promotion of the virus disease paradigm is a
 THE SARS EPIDEMIC, VIRUSES AND INDUSTRIAL POLLUTION — 16

tremendous boon for industry, which requires free disposal of

industrial wastes into the lungs. . . correction. . . the atmosphere.

The preponderance of evidence indicates that SARS is the direct

result of regional industrial pollution, airport pollution, with an
optional coup de grace from pyrethroid pesticides applied directly
upon the passengers or as a residue vapor. Essentially, airlines are
enclosed, fabric-filled containers where air is circulated several
times before it is vented to the outside. They are not the kind of
chamber that environmentalists would prefer to enter following
“disinsection.” SARS, like St. Louis virus (SLE), West Nile Virus
(WNV) and non-toxicological asthma definitions guarantee spin
control for emerging epidemics.

Neenyah Ostrom discusses the general relationship between

pollution in China and the SARS virus– and the relation between
poisoning and cellular RNA: “But Guangdong and Hong Kong
share another distinction: They are in perhaps the most polluted
area on the planet. Should we be asking questions like, what new
types of pollutants have been introduced into this gene-swapping
microenvironment? So, the question becomes: Is pollution a
causative agent in SARS?”

If SARS disease is another semantic flag for industrial pollution,

then SARS functions by punishing the economy of polluting
regions without specifically placing blame on powerful industries.
Military groups have long employed such a method–where the
group is punished to correct individual behavior. Within industry,
SARS will bring about a reassessment of economic priorities
(industrial need versus human worth) without the complications
of public blame games.
 THE SARS EPIDEMIC, VIRUSES AND INDUSTRIAL POLLUTION — 17

Sidebars

West Nile Virus

West Nile Virus (WNV) arrived in New York City in 1999 and soon
grew into an “epidemic” characterized by a sea of
contradictions.54 Medical press agencies proclaimed the “first
arrival of the West Nile virus to the Western Hemisphere” 55 but a
more accurate description of the situation would be the “first
testing of the West Nile virus in the Western Hemisphere.”

Mayor Giuliani personally announced the epidemic. He also

announced the immediate commencement of a six-week
pesticide spray campaign over the city, dispensed by helicopters.
Meanwhile, the TV and newspaper headlines chanted, “The
Deadly Virus.” The disease was at first attributed to the St. Louis
encephalitis virus (SLE) but a few weeks later blame shifted to
West Nile virus.

The United States Geological Survey (“USGS”) issued a press

release one year later “confirming” the pathological effect of WNV
on crows. This was hyped and widely distributed. Having read
many other virological studies, I found the USGS results incredibly
odd. The crows were injected intramuscularly with a virus extract
and a few days later all met death. The filter used to separate the
virus from tissue extract was nearly six times the diameter of the
virus.56 Nearly all non-injected crows in the same cage also died.
The success of the experiment was too convincing to be true,
especially for a study that did not employ the common, harsh,
intracranial injection method. The study outcome was also odd
because WNV had been considered a mild virus and not especially
 THE SARS EPIDEMIC, VIRUSES AND INDUSTRIAL POLLUTION — 18

dangerous to birds. The USGS laboratory ignored my repeated

inquiries for the published details. After going through another
scientist, who contacted the USGS, I received an emailed response
from the USGS indicating low confidence for their study. The
agency indicated their study would not be published or discussed
and they expressed an intention to perform a better experiment in
the future. I doubt they would want to take a chance on another
such experiment.

SLE and WNV epidemics occur annually in air-polluted

petrochemical regions (such as eastern New Jersey and St. Louis)
during the warm spring and summer months, with an apex in July
and August. The incidence correlates daily with air pollution
brought to ground level by warm air and loss of convection
efficiency for exhaust sources. SLE epidemics have a long history
in the US (in petrochemical regions) and these epidemics don’t
spread infectiously to other regions. The two great epicenters for
WNV/SLE disease are the two great petrochemical industrial
regions in the US–southern Louisiana and New Jersey.

During the summers of 1999 and 2000, air pollution levels reached
record levels, correlating with the incidence of “West Nile virus”
cases, both human and avian. The gasoline additive MTBE
represents perhaps the greatest production volume for any
industrial poison in the US, yet it has received little publicity. The
public became aware of its dangers only when the EPA suggested
that MTBE be phased out on July 27,1999. That date also
represents the apex of the West Nile virus avian epidemic for
1999.63

Like so many widely dispensed industrial poisons, the

physiological effects of MTBE have only become known through
usage on the public. However, Dr. Peter Joseph correlated MTBE
with neurological disease in his 1997 study, “Changes in Disease
 THE SARS EPIDEMIC, VIRUSES AND INDUSTRIAL POLLUTION — 19

Rates Following the Introduction of Oxygenated Fuels.”

Neurological symptoms also characterize West Nile virus disease.
Avian mortality further distinguishes this “viral” disease. Yet, avian
mortality is an early warning system for human air pollution
disease, as evidenced by the traditional air assay test, the “miners’
canary.”

Legionnaires’ Disease

Another acute respiratory disease is Legionnaires’ disease, also

characterized by sloppy science. The disease was claimed
causative for 182 casualties and 29 deaths within a few days in
1976 at the bicentennial celebration of the American Legion at the
Bellevue Stratford Hotel in Philadelphia.

After several months of study, CDC scientists announced the

discovery of Legionella bacteriumas as the cause for Legionnaires’
disease. Virologists Peter Duesberg and Brian Ellison relate the
story.57 “One month before the CDC isolated the bacterium, a US
House of Representatives Investigative Committee held hearings
excoriating the CDC for not having looked for toxic chemicals as a
possible cause of the 1976 epidemic. Chairman John Murphy of
New York sharply attacked the investigation because ‘The CDC, for
example, did not have a toxicologist present in their initial team of
investigators sent to deal with the epidemic. No apparent
precautions were taken to deal with the possibility, however
remote at the time, that something else might have been the
cause.'”

According to Duesberg, “The evidence indicates Legionella is

actually quite harmless. Since 1976, CDC and public health
investigators have found the bacteria all over the country, in water
 THE SARS EPIDEMIC, VIRUSES AND INDUSTRIAL POLLUTION — 20

cooling towers, condensers, shower heads, faucets, humidifiers,

whirlpools, swimming pools and even hot-water tanks, assorted
plumbing, mud, and lakes. The bacterium is so universal that
between 20 percent and 30 percent of the American population
has already been infected, yet virtually no one ever develops
Legionnaires’ disease symptoms.” Calling the organism
Aguanella–indicating it is simply water-borne–wouldn’t serve the
CDC’s purpose. Quite by chance, the CDC’s interpretation happens
to protect the chemical industry, which sells poisonous
deodorants, pesticides, antibiotics, carpets, paints,
pharmaceuticals, cosmetics and beverages to hotels–and airlines.

Two SARS Disease Paradigms:

Comparison of Symptoms
As Airline
Pesticide
Poisoning
As SARS (mostly Pyrethrin
Symptom Virus32-35 formulations)36-45
Coughing Yes Yes
Malaise Yes Yes
Fever Yes Yes
Headaches Yes Yes
Nausea Yes Yes
Vomiting Yes Yes
Rash Yes Yes
Respiratory distress Yes Yes
Respiratory failure Yes Yes
 THE SARS EPIDEMIC, VIRUSES AND INDUSTRIAL POLLUTION — 21

Neurological dysfunction Yes Yes

Cardiac dysfunction Yes Yes
Irritability Yes Yes
Diarrhea Yes Yes
Pneumonia Yes Yes
Lung damage (as measles
Yes Yes
symptoms, see below)
Dyspnoea (breathing difficulty
Yes Yes
related to hypoxemia)
Hypoxemia (low oxygen level) Yes Yes
Proteinaceous pulmonary
Yes Yes
edema
Leukocyte inhibition Yes Yes
Increases sodium ion
Not Listed Yes
permeability in tissue
Affects nasal, windpipe and lung
Yes Yes
surfaces
Shock Not Listed Yes
Seizures Not listed Yes
Salivation Yes Yes
Neurological damage Yes Yes
Muscular stiffness Yes Not listed
Like measles (Syncytial lung) Yes Yes*
Like flu Yes Yes
Like common cold Yes Yes
Like mumps Yes Yes*

*In terms of listed symptoms

 THE SARS EPIDEMIC, VIRUSES AND INDUSTRIAL POLLUTION — 22

REFERENCES

1. Washington Post, May 24, 2003

2. AP, May 15, 2003. “SARS has caused more damage to the
global airline industry than the Sept. 11 attacks and the
war in Iraq combined, the world’s airline association said
Thursday.”
3. NY Times 5/5/03
4. “China has threatened to execute or jail for life anyone who
breaks SARS quarantine orders and spreads the deadly
virus intentionally.” Beijing (Reuters), May 15, 2003
5. “Malaysia ordered a quarantine for 203 citizens, mostly low
waged earners, who had visited a SARS-infected produce
market in Singapore and warned that it would imprison
those who would break the orders.”
www.rediff.com/news/2003/apr/24sars1.htm
6. “Devastating Epidemic In Hong Kong”, CBS NEWS, 4/15/03,
www.cbsnews.com/stories/2003/04/15/eveningnews/main
549528.shtml
7. “10,000 quarantined in Nanjing, China”, CBC News,
www.cbc.ca/stories/2003/05/06/sars_china030506
8. Maggie Fox, “Scientists Identify Virus Behind Deadly SARS”,
Reuters 4/10/2003
9. Robert Walgate, “Cause of SARS disputed. Head of
Canadian lab not convinced that coronavirus causes
SARS,” www.biomedcentral.com/news/20030411/04
10. W.H.O. case definitions for SARS:
www.who.int/csr/sars/casedefinition/en
11. “Rotterdam-led scientists confirm virus as cause of SARS”,
Bio Aspects Newsletter, Vol 6, April 24, 2003,
www.geneyous.nl/docs/BioASPects20030424.html#article-
marktontwikkeling1
12. “Tests Confirm Coronavirus Is Sars Source”, Patricia
Reaney, May 15, 2003, NIH/Reuters, MedlinePlus
 THE SARS EPIDEMIC, VIRUSES AND INDUSTRIAL POLLUTION — 23

13. Fortune Magazine, 5/26/03

14. www.biomedcentral.com/news/20030411/04
15. Washington Times, February 24, 2003
16. Fortune Magazine, May 25, 2003
17. Walgate 4/11/03, Ibid
18. “Containment Controversy”, Global Sunday, 4/25/03, an
interview by Troy Reeb with Dr. Frank Plummer, Global
Sunday, www.canada.com/national/globalsunday
19. “Scientists make small steps in identifying cause of SARS”,
CBC NEWS, April 10, 2003,
www.cbc.ca/stories/2003/04/10/sars_sci030410
20. Jon Rappoport, “More SARS Madness”, 5/52003,
www.nomorefakenews.com
21. Nicholas Regush, www.redflagsweekly.com
22. Fintan Dunne, www.sarstravel.com
23. Helen Branswell, “Irate officials blast SARS warning”,
Canadian Press, April 21, 2003 www.thestar.com
24. Peter Duesberg, and Bryan Ellison, Inventing The AIDS Virus,
1996, p3-129
25. Stefan Lanka’s work may be found on www.virusmyth.com
26. Neenyah Ostrom, “Why is SARS Such a Mystery? Virus,
Bacteria, Fungus, Parasite – Why Can’t Researchers ID the
Bug?”, March 20, 2003, www.chronicillnet.org
27. Aviation Policy, U.S. Dept. of Trans.,
http://ostpxweb.dot.gov/policy/safety/disin.htm
28. “United Sued Over Pesticide In Planes”, August 2, 2001,
CHICAGO, Illinois (AP) — Flight attendants are being
sickened by exposure to pesticides that are sprayed on
airplanes serving Australia and New Zealand, a lawsuit filed
against United Airlines claims,”
www.cnn.com/2001/TRAVEL/NEWS/08/02/unitedairlines.p
esticides.ap/index.html
29. “Airline Passengers Are Sprayed for Bugs”, March 17, 2003:
“An airline flight to the tropics may involve greater health
 THE SARS EPIDEMIC, VIRUSES AND INDUSTRIAL POLLUTION — 24

risks… pesticides are routinely sprayed in aircraft cabins

by U.S. airlines sometimes over the heads of passengers
during flight.” PANNA mentions Asian routes as specifically
at risk for this procedure.
30. “Aviation Policy”, U.S. Dept. of Trans.,
http://ostpxweb.dot.gov/policy/safety/
31. Cynthia Olsen, “A Safe Alternative Treatment for Head
Lice”, Alive Magazine, October 2000, “Pyrethrins have been
banned from agricultural use as a pesticide.”
32. CDC Case Definition for SARS (March 22, 2003): Measured
temperature > 100.5F; cough; hypoxia; shortness of breath;
pneumonia; acute respiratory distress.
33. Gavin Joynt and Charles Gomersall, “Severe acute
respiratory syndrome (SARS)”,
34. Tamer Fouad, M.D., SARS Symptoms: “headache, muscular
stiffness, loss of appetite, malaise, confusion, rash, and
diarrhea. Early laboratory findings include low platelet and
white blood cell counts. In some cases, those symptoms
are followed by pneumonia in both lungs, sometimes
requiring use of a respirator.” The Doctor’s Lounge.NET.
http://thedoctorslounge.net/medlounge/articles/sars
35. Maggie Fox, April 10, 2003 (Ibid). Early SARS symptoms: like
flu, measles, mumps.
36. Olsen, 2000, Ibid. Symptoms listed for permethrin (a type
of synthetic pyrethrin used on airlines): “Side effects
include vomiting, respiratory failure, pneumonia and
asthma.”
37. Becky Riley, “Flyers Beware: Pesticide Use on International
and U.S. Domestic Aircraft and Flights”, Northwest
Coaltion Against Pesticides (NCAMP), 1998, “… “in-flight
spraying, Airosol Aircraft Insecticide, says that acute health
hazards of exposure to the product include dizziness, skin
irritation, and frostbite, and that overexposure due to
inhalation may cause temporary central nervous system
 THE SARS EPIDEMIC, VIRUSES AND INDUSTRIAL POLLUTION — 25

effects: dizziness, headache, confusion, stupor with the

exclusion of oxygen and with grossly excessive
overexposure. Additional warnings state that individuals
with preexisting diseases of the cardiovascular system may
have increased susceptibility to the toxicity of excessive
exposures, and to heart irregularities (Airosol Company,
1992).”
38. Ibid, “Two other U.S.-registered permethrin-containing
products with labeled aircraft uses, but theoretically not
for use in passenger cabins (though this is far from clear
from reading the product labels), are Dragnet FT
Termiticide/Insecticide and Flea Insecticide. According to
information provided by the FMC Corporation,
manufacturer of the above products, symptoms of
overexposure to both of the products include
hypersensitivity to touch and sound, tremors, and
convulsions. Overexposure of animals via inhalation has
also produced symptoms such as squinting eyes, irregular
and rattling breathing, and ataxia (loss of muscular
coordination). Inhalation of stoddard solvent vapors
[present in both of the above products] may cause
dizziness, disturbances in vision, drowsiness, respiratory
irritation, and eye and skin and mucous membrane
irritation (FMC, 1998; FMC, 1993).
39. Ibid. Airline pesticides: “Organophosphates are efficiently
absorbed by inhalation, ingestion, and skin penetration.
Symptoms of acute exposure to organophosphates
include: headache, nausea, dizziness and anxiety, followed
by muscle twitching, weakness, tremor, incoordination,
vomiting, abdominal cramps, diarrhea, tightness in the
chest, and coughing. Severe organophosphate poisonings
can lead to incontinence, paralysis, unconsciousness,
convulsions, and life-threatening respiratory failure (US
EPA, 1989).”
 THE SARS EPIDEMIC, VIRUSES AND INDUSTRIAL POLLUTION — 26

40. Ibid. “Bendicarb: Highly toxic carbamate nerve poison (US

EPA, 1989). Causes eye irritation. Exposure (poisoning)
symptoms include tightness in chest, sweating, stomach
pains, vomiting, and diarrhea (US EPA, 1979).”
41. Ibid. Piperonyl butoxide (used on aircraft): “Classified by
EPA as a possible human carcinogen (US EPA, 1998-3). In
animal tests, causes liver tumors and lung damage,
hemorrhages, and anemia (Takahashi, 1994).”
42. “MSDS: Permethrin,” Universal Crop Protection Alliance
LLC, “…moderate eye and skin irritation… Eye: There may
be moderate stinging, tearing and redness… mild skin
irritation… Disturbances in vision, drowsiness, respiratory
irritation… High oral doses can result in damage to the
liver and kidneys… Long term feeding studies in animals
resulted in increased liver and kidney weights, induction of
the liver microsomal drug metabolizing enzyme system,
and histopathological changes in the lungs and liver.”
43. Shirley A. Briggs and Rachel Carson Council, Inc., “Excerpts
From Basic Guide To Pesticides”, Pyrethroid symptoms:
“tremors; exaggerated startle response; hyperthermia
[fever]”
44. Lance C. Villers, MA, NREMTP, “Managing organophosphate
exposures”, Texas Dept. of Health, EMS Management, OP
Symptoms: “respiratory depression, bronchospasm,
bronchial secretions, pulmonary edema, muscular
weakness, resulting in hypoxemia.”
www.tdh.state.tx.us/hcqs/ems/MJCEPesticideExp.htm
45. INCHEM, “Pyrethrin”, Symptoms: “cough, wheeze,
dyspnoea, bronchospasm or pulmonary oedema.”,
Chemical Safety Information From Intergovernmental
Organizations. www.inchem.org
46. Diana Fairechild, Flyana.com
47. “Airports create smog; a single 747 arriving and
departing… produces as much smog as a car driven more
 THE SARS EPIDEMIC, VIRUSES AND INDUSTRIAL POLLUTION — 27

that 5,600 miles, and as much NOx as a car driven almost

26,500 miles (source: Natural Resources Defense Council).”
Queens College School of Earth and Environmental Science
www.qc.edu/EES/ENSCI111/Air/air.html
48. Jim West, “The Dangers of MTBE-Gasoline Additive: Its
Connection to the West Nile Virus”, Townsend Letter For
Doctors And Patients, July 2002, v228, p64-76.
49. Mark Hertzgaard, “Our Real China Problem”, The Atlantic
Monthly, November 1997.
50. “South East Asia: Regular Fire and Weather Update”, March
2003.Sources: NASA/EO and OSEI/NOAA.
http://www.fire.uni-freiburg.de/summit-
2003/introduction.htm
51. Ralph Scobey, M.D., “Is Human Poliomyelitis Caused By An
Exogenous
Virus?”, Archive Of Pediatrics (April/May,1954) v71, p111.
From Jim West’s
analysis of Scobey,
www.geocities.com/harpub/scobexog.htm
52. Mark Ptashne, A Genetic Switch (1992), p62. Cell Press and
Blackwell Scientific Publications, 50 Church St.,
Cambridge, MA 02138
53. “Dr. Urnovitz rejects the theory of a coronavirus as being
the cause of SARS”, May 14, 2003.
www.chronixbiomedical.com/Research/press_release3.ht
ml
54. Jim West, “The Epidemiology Of Air Pollution”,
www.geocities.com/noxot
55. Eric Ammerman , Senior Public Health Sanitarian, Monroe
County Department of Health. “Experts agree that WNV
most likely arrived in the Western Hemisphere as some
‘accidental tourist’ aboard a ship or in an airplane.”
56. David Crowe, “West Nile Virus — Does It Exist?”, 2001
www.mercola.com/2001/oct/3west_nile_virus.htm
 THE SARS EPIDEMIC, VIRUSES AND INDUSTRIAL POLLUTION — 28

57. Peter Duesberg, 1996 ( Ibid), p56

58. http://www.tetrahedron.org
59. http://www.i-sis.org.uk/BioTerrorismAndSARS.php
60. Reuters, May 20, 2003
61. Wall Street Journal, May 23, 2003
62. Ibid.
63. “A panel appointed by the EPA is set to report on Tuesday
that use of the much-debated ingredient M.T.B.E. . . should
be ‘reduced substantially’. .. ” The New York Times, July 27,
1999.

This article appeared in Wise Traditions in Food, Farming and the

Healing Arts, the quarterly magazine of the Weston A. Price
Foundation, Summer 2003.

Reader Interactions
Comments

1. Jim West says

September 16, 2019 at 12:14 pm

Thanks to Sally Fallon for patiently editing and publishing

my article on SARS.

Now, years later, I would include in the list of airliner toxic

stressors, electrical radiation. Examples are computer
monitors attached to passenger seats at head level,
powerful electric motors and solenoids that move wing
flaps, unshielded switch-mode step-down transformers for
lighting, fans, Wifi computers and cellphones, etc.
 THE SARS EPIDEMIC, VIRUSES AND INDUSTRIAL POLLUTION — 29

All of that radiation occurs within what is essentially a

reflective metal can, the airliner.

People are falling ill on airliners and even dying following a

long flight. This should motivate official investigations and
remedies.

Ref: https://harvoa-med.blogspot.com/2019/07/emf.html

Article Source:
https://www.westonaprice.org/health-topics/environmental-
toxins/the-sars-epidemic-are-viruses-taking-the-rap-for-
industrial-poisons/