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GAO-02-809R: 

United States General Accounting Office: 
Washington, DC 20548: 

June 17, 2002: 

The Honorable James A. Traficant, Jr. 
House of Representatives: 

Subject: Origin of the AIDS Virus: 

Dear Mr. Traficant: 

In response to your request to review an individual's allegations that 
the National Cancer Institute's Special Virus Cancer Program (SVCP) 
created the AIDS virus, we obtained information on (1) the overall 
stated purposes and outcomes of SVCP, (2) scientific assessments of 
the origins of the AIDS virus (HIV-1) and any possible evidence 
regarding the origins of the AIDS virus at SVCP, and (3) the outcome 
of recent litigation regarding the origins of the AIDS virus. On June 
13, 2002, we briefed your staff on the results of our analysis. The 
enclosed slides formed the basis of the briefing we presented. 

To address our objectives, we consulted experts on HIV/AIDS and on 
SVCP, reviewed SVCP progress reports and summaries as well as 
documents that allege SVCP created the AIDS virus. In addition, we 
obtained information on recent litigation involving the individual's 
allegations. In summary, we did not find evidence to support the 
allegation that SVCP created the AIDS virus. Comments from the 
National Cancer Institute on a draft of the briefing slides concluded 
that they are historically and scientifically accurate. 

We are sending copies of this report to the Secretary of Health and 
Human Services and the Acting Director of the National Cancer 
Institute. We will also make copies available to others on request. In 
addition, the report will be available at no charge on the GAO Web 
site at [hyperlink, http://www.gao.gov]. Please contact me at (202) 
512-7119 if you have any questions. The major contributor to this 
report was Lawrence S. Solomon. 

Sincerely yours, 

Signed by: 

Janet Heinrich: 
Director, Health Care—Public Health Issues: 

Enclosure: 

[End of section] 

Enclosure: 

Origin of the AIDS Virus: 

Briefing for the Office of the Honorable James A. Traficant, Jr., 
House of Representatives: 

By the U.S. General Accounting Office: 

June 13, 2002: 

Background: 

* An individual has alleged that the visna virus, which caused illness 
and death in Icelandic sheep, was used by the National Cancer 
Institute's (NCI) Special Virus Cancer Program (SVCP) to develop HIV-
1, the virus that has caused the global AIDS pandemic. 

* This individual cited a SVCP research program flowchart as evidence 
that HIV-1 was developed intentionally in its laboratories.

Objectives: 

* Identify overall stated purposes and outcomes of SVCP. 

* Describe scientific assessments of the origins of the AIDS virus and 
any possible evidence regarding the origin of the AIDS virus at SVCP. 

* Describe outcome of recent litigation involving the individual's 
allegations of federal government involvement in the origins of the 
AIDS virus. 

Methodology: 

To address our objectives, we: 

* Consulted experts on HIV/AIDS and on SVCP. They have expertise in 
genetics, cell biology, viral oncology, biochemistry, internal 
medicine, epidemiology, public health, and dentistry. Some of these 
experts are cited by the individual as supporters of the allegation 
that SVCP created the AIDS virus. 

* Reviewed SVCP progress reports and summaries issued between 1967 and 
1984. 

* Reviewed documents that allege SVCP created the AIDS virus. 

* Obtained information on recent litigation addressing the 
individual's allegations. 

* Performed our work from January through May 2002 in accordance with 
generally accepted government auditing standards.

Purpose of SVCP: 

* NCI directed SVCP within the intramural laboratories from 1964 to 
1980. After 1980, the work of SVCP was incorporated into NCI's broader 
National Cancer Plan. 

* Purpose was to find viruses in human cancer cells, relate them to 
specific cancers (leukemia, etc.), and develop means to block their 
effects and reduce cancer growth. 

* In 1972, SVCP developed a flowchart depicting research program to 
investigate viral oncology (the study of how viruses cause cancer). 

* Outcome of SVCP did not lead to discovery of viruses in human cancer 
cells, but did result in several advances in molecular biology. 

Scientific Assessment on the Origins of the AIDS Virus: 

* The first scientific evidence of HIV-1 predates the 1964 
commencement of SVCP. 

* HIV-1 was found in blood samples of an African man who died in 1959. 
(Zhu, Tuofu et al. "An African HIV-1 Sequence from 1959 and 
Implications for the Origin of the Epidemic," Nature 391, no. 6667 
(1998): 594-97.) 

* HIV-1 was likely transferred to humans before 1955 from a subspecies 
of chimpanzees infected with simian immunodeficiency virus (SIV). 
(Korber, Bette et al. "Timing the Ancestor of the HIV-1 Pandemic 
Strains," Science 288, no. 5472 (2000): 1789-96.) 

* Historical analyses of virus development have demonstrated that 
while the visna virus and HIV-1 shared some common origins thousands 
of years ago, mutations of key genes over time have resulted in a wide 
divergence of these two viruses. 

* These analyses have also demonstrated that the laboratory 
combination of the visna virus and HIV-1 was highly improbable.

* Therefore, there is no evidence that SVCP created the AIDS virus.

Recent Litigation Involving Allegations Concerning the Origins of the 
AIDS Virus: 

* U.S. District Court (Northern District of Ohio) issued order 
September 16, 1999, dismissing allegations that the federal government 
developed agent that subsequently became known as AIDS. 

* U.S. Court of Appeals (Sixth Circuit) affirmed the U.S. District 
Court order November 7, 2000. The Court of Appeals referred to the 
allegations as having "no basis in law or in fact." 

* U.S. Supreme Court denied petition to review the case June 4, 2001.
[Graves v. Cohen, No. 98-02209 (N.D. Ohio Sept. 16, 1999), aff'd 238 
F. 3d 421, 2000 U.S. App. LEXIS 29203 (6th Cir. Nov. 7, 2000), cert. 
denied sub nom. Graves v. Rumsfeld, 532 U.S. 1072 (2001).]

Comments from NCI: 

* We received oral comments from NCI on a draft of this briefing. The 
comments stated that the information contained in this briefing is 
historically and scientifically accurate.

[End of section]