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Conspiracy theory keeps polio alive...Muslim Jahiliya
(Ignorance) in Action A worldwide campaign begun in 1988 to
eradicate polio was on the verge of success when, early in 2003, a
conspiracy theory took hold of the Muslim population in northern
Nigeria. That conspiracy theory has single-handedly returned polio to
epidemic proportions.
 Ahmed, a Nigerian Islamist, accuses Americans of lacing
the polio vaccine with an anti-fertility agent that sterilizes
children (or, in an alternate theory, infects them with AIDS) and
considers them, according to John Murphy of The Baltimore Sun, "the
worst criminals on Earth... Even Hitler was not as evil as that."
This polio episode is but one example of how conspiracy theories
originating in the Muslim world damage everyone, and Muslims first of
all (proving that Islam is a curse on Muslims and on Mankind - WoJ)
BBC News_____________________
The theory's source seems to be one Ibrahim Datti Ahmed, 68, a
physician and president of Nigeria's Supreme Council for Shari'a Law.
Ahmed, an Islamist, accuses Americans of lacing the polio vaccine
with an anti-fertility agent that sterilizes children (or, in an
alternate theory, infects them with AIDS) and considers them,
according to John Murphy of The Baltimore Sun, "the worst criminals
on Earth... Even Hitler was not as evil as that."
This fear of polio vaccines caught on, explains a doctor with the
World Health Organization, because of the war in Iraq. "If America is
fighting people in the Middle East," goes the Islamist logic, "the
conclusion is that they are fighting Muslims."
Local imams repeated and spread the sterilization theory, which won
wide acceptance despite vocal assurances to the contrary from the
WHO, the Nigerian government and many Nigerian doctors and
scientists.
Ibrahim Shekarau, governor of Kano, one of the three Nigerian states
that refused the polio vaccine, justified the decision not to
vaccinate on the grounds that "it is a lesser of two evils to
sacrifice two, three, four, five, even 10 children [to polio] than
allow hundreds of thousands or possibly millions of girl-children
likely to be rendered infertile."
The Baltimore Sun offers the example of a young Nigerian mother who
rejected polio vaccine for her child. The child did get polio, and
the mother was asked if she regretted her decision. Unhesitatingly,
she replied, "No, I would do the same [again]." Villagers saw the
vaccination program as a threat and on occasion "chased, threatened
and assaulted vaccinators. Frustrated, some vaccination teams dumped
thousands of doses of the vaccine rather than face angry villagers."
By mid-2004 the conspiracy theory had jumped to the Muslim dominated
areas of India, where a health worker noted that in one slum, "many
poor and ignorant women regard the anti-polio drops as a deceptive
strategy to control the birth rate."
Such phobia about the West infecting Muslims with diseases is nothing
new. In a 1997 book I surveyed some earlier accusations:
The British imported cholera and malaria to Egypt after World War II;
a British midwife who trained in the Kabylia province of Algeria got
accused by an angry Algerian supervisor of working in league with
the "white-coated saboteurs passing their hands from vagina to
vagina, infecting my heroic people with syphilis!" An unnamed enemy –
presumably American – infiltrated deadly diseases into Iraq via
maggot-ridden cigarettes; Israel transmitted cancer to Palestinians
by getting them to take dangerous factory jobs, or subjecting them to
phosphorous searches.
The polio-vaccine conspiracy theory has had direct consequences: 16
countries where polio had been eradicated have in recent months
reported outbreaks of the disease – 12 in Africa (Benin, Botswana,
Burkina Faso, Cameroon, Central African Republic, Chad, Ethiopia,
Ghana, Guinea, Mali, Sudan and Togo) and four in Asia (India,
Indonesia, Saudi Arabia and Yemen). Yemen has had the largest polio
outbreak, with more than 83 cases since April. The WHO calls this "a
major epidemic."
The common element, The New York Times notes, is that incidents of
polio are now located "almost exclusively in Muslim countries or
regions."
That's because, scientists hypothesize, the polio infection traveled
from Nigeria in a uniquely Muslim way – via the pilgrimage to Mecca
(the hajj), which took place in January 2005. Testing confirms that
all three Asian strains of the disease originated in northern
Nigeria.
In response, the WHO is talking tough, as United Nations
organizations too rarely do, complaining that Muslim governments have
contributed a trivial $3 million to the $4 billion anti-polio
campaign and demanding more funds from them. David L. Heymann of the
WHO also noted that "It would be a good sign for Islamic countries to
see other Islamic countries giving. But they've come in more slowly
than we expected."
Additional money would help, yes, but more important is for Muslims
themselves to argue against and defeat the conspiracy-theory
mentality.
This polio episode is but one example of how conspiracy theories
originating in the Muslim world damage everyone, and Muslims first of
all (proving that Islam is a curse on Muslims - WoJ)
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Daniel Pipes is director of the Middle East Forum.
Story Credits: Daniel Pipes
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