Posted on 04/10/2005 6:22:29 PM PDT by wagglebee
Its kind of hard to imply something is a secret if its available in more then 30 countries, never the less, if its developing such vaccines, it wouldn't have problems using the profits of licensing them to others to bring in cash.
If Cuba is isolated economically, producing cures, is the easiest way to break it. The question here is how much of this is hype and how much of it isn't? Poised to provide anti-cancer therapies by 2008? I'll believe it when it happens, for a country that has had Castro and his vision around for so long and has established a bio-tech sector in the mid-80's, they should not be doing catch up, they should be the world leaders.
No one finds it odd, that Cuba which is supposed to be isolated, makes it claims of success, with proof, that they are not isolated (references to over 30 countries, European markets, western market?).
This is a cheerleader puff piece where the author did not have to good sense to avoid contradicting themselves.
You make a lot of sense to me!
"Cuba's accomplishments in primary care involve low-technology and organizational innovations such as neighborhood-based family medicine."
"Vaccination is a major focus of the Cuban health system, whose childhood immunization program has led to the eradication of measles, mumps and polio, as well as a 30-fold decrease in the incidence of meningitis."
"There are projects to develop vaccines against salmonella and dengue hemorrhagic fever -- a particularly difficult project, as vaccines must be effective against all four dengue viruses to prevent disease."
"Cuba's biotechnology industry is one of the most advanced in emerging countries. Fidel Castro has vowed that Cuba will become the only developing nation to be a significant player in the world's biotechnology and pharmaceuticals industries, and a concerted national effort instigated by Castro himself has made independent progress unmatched elsewhere in the developing world."
"Cuban biotech research has added several vaccines to the national immunization program, and is responsible for drugs such as recombinant streptokinase, the "cloudburst" for heart attack victims produced at a fraction of the cost of imports."
"Cuba has produced a number of valuable medicinal goods, such as epiderman growth factor and policosanol (PPG), an oral medication derived from sugar cane that lowers cholesterol and atherogenic lipoproteins."
"Cuba would be capable of producing biological warfare agents, and Cuba's biotechnology industry could produce many types of toxins. Defector reports claim that the civilian-run Center for Genetic Engineering and Biotechnology in Havana is a "front" for a military research center that manufactures anthrax and bubonic plague."
"In February 1997 Cuban President Fidel Castro compared the United States to a dragon and Cuba to a lamb and warned that if the dragon tried to eat the lamb, it would find its meal "poisoned" -- setting off speculation concerning Cuba's biological warfare capabilities."
In Cuba, of course, the social solidarity and the emancipation from the 'false conscience' of capitalism makes it all worthwhile.
I predict an uprising in Cuba at Fidel's death. I understand he still refuses to name an heir apparent. Who will get the prize as the last Marxist head of state in Latin America? Castro? Chavez? de Silva? I only know they will all be gone in a few years.
ping
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