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Post by Freedom on Nov 5, 2009 12:08:57 GMT -5
www.guardian.co.uk/books/2006/apr/08/featuresreviews.guardianreview3In the most shocking part of the book, Snowden describes - passionately, but with the skill of a great historian - how the retreating Nazi armies in Italy in 1943-44 deliberately caused a massive malaria epidemic in Lazio. It was "the only known example of biological warfare in 20th-century Europe". The Germans flooded the plains at a certain point of the year, causing the maximum damage to the local population. This was yet another example of the "total war" waged by the Nazis upon the civilian population in Italy, a war which included massacres, theft and destruction. Ironically, it was the jewel in Mussolini's crown - the new city of Littoria (now Latina) which suffered the worst damage at the hands of his own allies. Shamefully, the Italian malaria expert Alberto Missiroli had a role to play in the disaster: he did not distribute quinine, despite being well aware of the epidemic to come. Snowden claims that Missiroli was already preparing a new strategy - with the support of the US Rockefeller Foundation - using a new pesticide, DDT. Missiroli allowed the epidemic to spread, in order to create the ideal conditions for a massive, and lucrative, human experiment. Fifty-five thousand cases of malaria were recorded in the province of Littoria alone in 1944. It is estimated that more than a third of those in the affected area contracted the disease. Thousands, nobody knows how many, died. (follow the link for the full article.)
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