AIDS Could Be Germ War Lab Product: M.D.

The AIDS virus might have been man-made and released--either deliberately or by mistake--from a biological warfare research laboratory, a British expert on sex diseases said today.

Dr. John Seale said there are serious flaws in theories that acquired immune deficiency syndrome developed from spontaneous mutations of a human virus or was transferred to humans from animals, such as the African green monkey.

He said that, since 1949, biological warfare research centers have known about the highly lethal Visna virus in sheep. The Visna virus grew easily in cell cultures, had a structure remarkably similar to the AIDS virus and caused a similar disease.

Seale, who is in private practice and specializes in urinary and venereal diseases, said the AIDS virus, which attacks the body’s immune system, has one gene extra over the Visna virus.

‘Routine Procedure’

“Inserting an extra gene into a virus is a routine procedure in modern genetic engineering,” Seale said.