Boston mother sues over forced sterilization

Mom of 9 sues for unwanted sterilization

UPI | Jan 3, 2010

BOSTON, Jan. 3 (UPI) — A Boston mother of nine has sued a hospital and medical personnel allegedly for permanently sterilizing her against her will.

Tessa Savicki, 35, whose children range in age from 3 to 21, said she provided an intra-uterine device to healthcare professionals to be installed after her last Caesarean-section, but they instead performed a tubal ligation, which Savicki said she had not authorized, the Boston Herald reported Sunday.

Savicki’s nine children were fathered by several men. She is unemployed and receives public aid for two of the four children who reside with her, receives supplemental security income because she has non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma, her mother has custody of three of the children, and two of her children are no longer minors, she said.

Savicki’s fiance, Angel Flores Tirado, 36, lives with her and helps support the family — three of the children are his — with his full time position as a personal care assistant. She said she had hoped to have one more child with Tirado.

Savicki said she realized some people may not have much sympathy for her, but said she should not be judged on the basis of being a poor, single mother of 9.

“I would never have the right to tell anyone else ‘because you have this many kids, that’s enough,’” she said.

“I take care of my kids. I love my kids. I was not ready to make that kind of decision (for permanent sterilization),” she said.

Three Approved Genetically Modified Foods Linked to Organ Damage

Three Approved GMOs Linked to Organ Damage

dissidentvoice.org | Jan 3, 2010

by Rady Ananda

In what is being described as the first ever and most comprehensive study of the effects of genetically modified foods on mammalian health, researchers have linked organ damage with consumption of Monsanto’s GM maize.

All three varieties of GM corn, Mon 810, Mon 863 and NK 603, were approved for consumption by US, European and several other national food safety authorities. Made public by European authorities in 2005, Monsanto’s confidential raw data of its 2002 feeding trials on rats that these researchers analyzed is the same data, ironically, that was used to approve them in different parts of the world.

The Committee of Research and Information on Genetic Engineering (CRIIGEN) and Universities of Caen and Rouen studied Monsanto’s 90-day feeding trials data of insecticide producing Mon 810, Mon 863 and Roundup® herbicide absorbing NK 603 varieties of GM maize.

The data “clearly underlines adverse impacts on kidneys and liver, the dietary detoxifying organs, as well as different levels of damages to heart, adrenal glands, spleen and haematopoietic system,” reported Gilles-Eric Séralini, a molecular biologist at the University of Caen.

Although different levels of adverse impact on vital organs were noticed between the three GMOs, the 2009 research shows specific effects associated with consumption of each GMO, differentiated by sex and dose.

Full Story

Hundreds fall ill after having swine flu jab

herald.ie | Dec 14, 2009

By Clodagh Sheehy

Swine flu vaccine has caused adverse reactions in 619 people to date, varying from seizures and anaphylactic shock to fainting and vomiting.

Two more people have died from the flu but the number of people falling ill with the virus has halved in the past week.

More than 400,000 vaccinations against swine flu have been carried out, according to the latest figures from the Irish Medicines Board which details the reported side effects for both forms of the vaccines — Pandemrix and Celvapan.

Of the 619 people who showed side effects to the vaccine, 52 had an allergic reaction and three of these went into anaphylactic shock.

Altogether 210 children reacted adversely to the vaccine, 15 with an allergic reaction and some of the children needed hospital treatment as a result.

Forty pregnant women reported side effects, four of them allergic and one woman, with a history of miscarriage, lost her baby.

Six people had seizures, two people reported facial palsy and the IMB was made aware of the death of one patient 10 days after vaccination but says the patient had an underlying condition and there was no evidence of a link between the vaccine and the patient’s death.

“Most people receiving the vaccine have serious and/or chronic underlying medical conditions which put them at greater risk of developing serious complications of swine flu,” says the board adding “this is why it is important for these people to be vaccinated as a priority”.

Generally the reactions included flu-like illness, head-ache, dizziness and fainting, pins and needles, transient weakness of the vaccinated limb and nausea and vomiting.

The latest people to die from swine flu were two men with underlying illnesses, one from the east and the other from the south of the country, bringing the total deaths to 20.

Health officials say there has been a marked decline in the spread of the virus in the past week, down to 5,500 new cases compared to 10,500 the previous week.

Copenhagen: China pushing Population Control as the Final Solution

LifeSiteNews.com | Dec 11, 2009

By Hilary White

COPENHAGEN, December 11, 2009 (LifeSiteNews.com) – Population control has emerged as a key issue for “climate change” talks in Copenhagen, after the issue was brought forward by Chinese delegates. Zhao Baige, vice-minister of National Population and Family Planning Commission of China (NPFPC) said, “Population and climate change are intertwined, but the population issue has remained a blind spot when countries discuss ways to mitigate climate change and slow down global warming.”

“Dealing with climate change is not simply an issue of CO2 emission reduction but a comprehensive challenge involving political, economic, social, cultural and ecological issues, and the population concern fits right into the picture.”

The Chinese newspaper China Daily quotes Zhao saying that China’s population program has made a great historic contribution to the well-being of society. China has reduced the number of births by 400 million since instituting its one-child “family planning” policies, and this has resulted in 18 million fewer tons of CO2 emissions per year, Zhao continued.

Although she declined to mention China’s laws forcing women into abortion and sterilization, Zhao did acknowledge that her country faces what some have called a looming demographic crisis because of the policy, with an aging population, a reduced work force and a severe nationwide gender imbalance from sex-selective abortion.

“I’m not saying that what we have done is 100 percent right, but I’m sure we are going in the right direction and now 1.3 billion people have benefited,” she said.

Todd Stern, the US Special Envoy to the conference told journalists yesterday that China is the world’s largest emitter of CO2, calling the data “frightening.”

“By 2020, China will be a 60% bigger emitter than the US; by 2030, it will be 80% bigger. The inescapable conclusion: major developing economies must be brought into an international framework that obligates them to curb emissions,” Stern said.

The conference is proceeding despite the recent revelations that some leading climate scientists may have falsified or withheld scientific information to inflate the data on “global warming.” Information was released on the internet by unidentified hackers in November that appeared to show that researchers at the Climatic Research Unit of the University of East Anglia, one of the world’s key sources of the climate change theories, had sought to prevent dissenting scientific papers from being published and deleted e-mails and raw data that would have refuted the global warming theory.

After the internet world was immediately filled with stories and theories on what quickly became dubbed “Climategate,” the University of East Anglia announced it would conduct an independent review of the matter.

The 15th Session of United Nations Climate Change Conference of Parties runs from December 7 to 18.

Green cremation method renders human bodies into fertilizer

Photo: Resomation Ltd.

Green (gross?) cremation method produces liquid fertilizer

New climate-friendly cremation method uses water and lye to transform human remains into 200 gallons of liquid fertilizer.

mnn.com | Dec 7, 2009

By Stephanie Rogers

There are an awful lot of people on the planet, and modern methods for disposing of human remains aren’t exactly earth-friendly. A new alternative to cremation and burial could change that — and even increase food production for those still living — if we can get past the ‘ick factor’ of liquefying our dead relatives.

“Resomation” is the process of disposing of human corpses through alkaline hydrolysis, which occurs when the body is sealed inside a vault-like tube filled with water and lye and steam-heated to 300 degrees. Three hours later, some powdery bone fragments and 200 gallons of fluid are all that remains.

Essentially, Resomation — which was developed by Scottish company Resomation Ltd. — is just like the natural process of decomposition, but on fast-forward. The fluid can be safely dumped into sewer systems or even used as fertilizer on farms and gardens — a proposal that some say comes a little too close to ‘Soylent Green’ for comfort.

But unlike cremation and traditional burial, alkaline hydrolysis doesn’t lead to toxic chemicals like dioxin and formaldehyde being released into the atmosphere or water supply. It also uses 80 percent less energy than standard cremation.

Despite its apparent eco-friendliness, it’s improbable that Resomation will become a common way to deal with human remains any time soon. It seems unlikely at best that Americans will accept pouring what’s left of a loved one down a drain or consuming food that has been sprayed with corpse juice.

But as world leaders struggle to deal with the immense specter of global warming, solutions like Resomation may become more palatable — and it’s already accepted by many religious faiths, including Catholicism.

“We’re not opposed to it. Environmentally, it seems like the right thing to do,” says Catholic Cemeteries manager of marketing Amy Profenna.

Population reduction called key to Copenhagen deal

Population control called key to deal

China Daily | Dec 10, 2009

By Li Xing

COPENHAGEN: Population and climate change are intertwined but the population issue has remained a blind spot when countries discuss ways to mitigate climate change and slow down global warming, according to Zhao Baige, vice-minister of National Population and Family Planning Commission of China (NPFPC) .

“Dealing with climate change is not simply an issue of CO2 emission reduction but a comprehensive challenge involving political, economic, social, cultural and ecological issues, and the population concern fits right into the picture,” said Zhao, who is a member of the Chinese government delegation.

Many studies link population growth with emissions and the effect of climate change.

“Calculations of the contribution of population growth to emissions growth globally produce a consistent finding that most of past population growth has been responsible for between 40 per cent and 60 percent of emissions growth,” so stated by the 2009 State of World Population, released earlier by the UN Population Fund.

Although China’s family planning policy has received criticism over the past three decades, Zhao said that China’s population program has made a great historic contribution to the well-being of society.

As a result of the family planning policy, China has seen 400 million fewer births, which has resulted in 18 million fewer tons of CO2 emissions a year, Zhao said.

The UN report projected that if the global population would remain 8 billion by the year 2050 instead of a little more than 9 billion according to medium-growth scenario, “it might result in 1 billion to 2 billion fewer tons of carbon emissions”.

Meanwhile, she said studies have also shown that family planning programs are more efficient in helping cut emissions, citing research by Thomas Wire of London School of Economics that states: “Each $7 spent on basic family planning would reduce CO2 emissions by more than one ton” whereas it would cost $13 for reduced deforestation, $24 to use wind technology, $51 for solar power, $93 for introducing hybrid cars and $131 electric vehicles.

She admitted that China’s population program is not without consequences, as the country is entering the aging society fast and facing the problem of gender imbalance.

“I’m not saying that what we have done is 100 percent right, but I’m sure we are going in the right direction and now 1.3 billion people have benefited,” she said.

She said some 85 percent of the Chinese women in reproductive age use contraceptives, the highest rate in the world. This has been achieved largely through education and improvement of people’s lives, she said.

This holistic approach that integrates policy on population and development, a strategy promoting sustainable development of population, resources and environment should serve as a model for integrating population programs into the framework of climate change adaptation, she said.

Fluoride Causes Premature Births, Brain Degradation, Bone Loss, Cancer and Hormone Disruption

NaturalNews | Dec 9, 2009

by Ethan Huff

A recent study conducted by researchers from the State University of New York (SUNY) found that fluoride ingestion may be responsible for causing premature births. Presented to the American Public Health Association at its annual meeting, these findings ratchet up yet another detrimental consequence of ingesting this toxic poison that is added to most American municipal water supplies.

Sodium fluoride, a waste byproduct of the aluminum industry, is touted by most mainstream health bureaucracies as one of the greatest public health achievements ever discovered. The American Dental Association praises the medication of the public through fluoridated municipal water supplies, claiming that it has done wonders to prevent tooth decay. A simple investigation beyond the glaringly false rhetoric, however, reveals the dirty reality behind fluoride and the incredible harm it inflicts upon those who ingest it.

Contrary to popular belief, fluoride is not a natural substance; it is the byproduct of the aluminum and nuclear industries’ use of fluorine gas. The Merck Index lists fluoride’s primary use as rat and cockroach poison and it is a known carcinogen. It wasn’t until the 1950s that the FDA was somehow convinced that the poison allegedly helped protect teeth.

Fluoride used in Nazi death camps
The first known instances of deliberate water fluoridation were in Nazi Germany ghettos and prison camps. Sodium fluoride was added to the human inmates’ water to sterilize them and to cause them to become docile, subservient subjects willing to comply with orders.

Charles Perkins, a research chemist, wrote a letter to the Lee Foundation for Nutritional Research in 1954 about fluoride. In it, he stated that repeated ingestion of low doses of fluoride over a long period of time will destroy the areas of the human brain that trigger resistance to tyranny and unlawful coercion and control.

Conditions caused by fluoride ingestion
Fluoride ingestion is responsible for causing thyroid dysfunction. The National Research Council (NRC) warns that ingestion of .01 – .03 mg/kg/day of fluoride, which is easily achieved by drinking fluoridated water, can severely inhibit proper thyroid function.

Other problems caused by fluoride include dental fluorosis, a disease of the teeth, weakening of bones and bone loss, bone cancer, kidney problems, and hormone disruption.

Many communities have succeeded in removing fluoride from their water supplies through local campaigns and ballot measures. Since medical professionals and organizations are increasingly becoming opposed to fluoride use, the momentum is stronger than ever to rid the nation’s water supplies of toxic fluoride.

Millions in U.S. Drink Dirty Toxic Water, Records Show

NY Times | Dec 8, 2009

By CHARLES DUHIGG

More than 20 percent of the nation’s water treatment systems have violated key provisions of the Safe Drinking Water Act over the last five years, according to a New York Times analysis of federal data.

That law requires communities to deliver safe tap water to local residents. But since 2004, the water provided to more than 49 million people has contained illegal concentrations of chemicals like arsenic or radioactive substances like uranium, as well as dangerous bacteria often found in sewage.

Regulators were informed of each of those violations as they occurred. But regulatory records show that fewer than 6 percent of the water systems that broke the law were ever fined or punished by state or federal officials, including those at the Environmental Protection Agency, which has ultimate responsibility for enforcing standards.

Studies indicate that drinking water contaminants are linked to millions of instances of illness within the United States each year.

In some instances, drinking water violations were one-time events, and probably posed little risk. But for hundreds of other systems, illegal contamination persisted for years, records show.

On Tuesday, the Senate Environment and Public Works committee will question a high-ranking E.P.A. official about the agency’s enforcement of drinking-water safety laws. The E.P.A. is expected to announce a new policy for how it polices the nation’s 54,700 water systems.

“This administration has made it clear that clean water is a top priority,” said an E.P.A. spokeswoman, Adora Andy, in response to questions regarding the agency’s drinking water enforcement. The E.P.A. administrator, Lisa P. Jackson, this year announced a wide-ranging overhaul of enforcement of the Clean Water Act, which regulates pollution into waterways.

“The previous eight years provide a perfect example of what happens when political leadership fails to act to protect our health and the environment,” Ms. Andy added.

Water pollution has become a growing concern for some lawmakers as government oversight of polluters has waned. Senator Barbara Boxer, Democrat of California, in 2007 asked the E.P.A. for data on Americans’ exposure to some contaminants in drinking water.

The New York Times has compiled and analyzed millions of records from water systems and regulators around the nation, as part of a series of articles about worsening pollution in American waters, and regulators’ response.

An analysis of E.P.A. data shows that Safe Drinking Water Act violations have occurred in parts of every state. In the prosperous town of Ramsey, N.J., for instance, drinking water tests since 2004 have detected illegal concentrations of arsenic, a carcinogen, and the dry cleaning solvent tetrachloroethylene, which has also been linked to cancer.

In New York state, 205 water systems have broken the law by delivering tap water that contained illegal amounts of bacteria since 2004.

However, almost none of those systems were ever punished. Ramsey was not fined for its water violations, for example, though a Ramsey official said that filtration systems have been installed since then. In New York, only three water systems were penalized for bacteria violations, according to federal data.

The problem, say current and former government officials, is that enforcing the Safe Drinking Water Act has not been a federal priority.

“There is significant reluctance within the E.P.A. and Justice Department to bring actions against municipalities, because there’s a view that they are often cash-strapped, and fines would ultimately be paid by local taxpayers,” said David Uhlmann, who headed the environmental crimes division at the Justice Department until 2007.

“But some systems won’t come into compliance unless they are forced to,” added Mr. Uhlmann, who now teaches at the University of Michigan law school. “And sometimes a court order is the only way to get local governments to spend what is needed.”

A half-dozen current and former E.P.A. officials said in interviews that they tried to prod the agency to enforce the drinking-water law, but found little support.

“I proposed drinking water cases, but they got shut down so fast that I’ve pretty much stopped even looking at the violations,” said one longtime E.P.A. enforcement official who, like others, requested anonymity for fear of reprisals. “The top people want big headlines and million-dollar settlements. That’s not drinking-water cases.”

The majority of drinking water violations since 2004 have occurred at water systems serving fewer than 20,000 residents, where resources and managerial expertise are often in short supply.

It is unclear precisely how many American illnesses are linked to contaminated drinking water. Many of the most dangerous contaminants regulated by the Safe Drinking Water Act have been tied to diseases like cancer that can take years to develop.

But scientific research indicates that as many as 19 million Americans may become ill each year due to just the parasites, viruses and bacteria in drinking water. Certain types of cancer — such as breast and prostate cancer — have risen over the past 30 years, and research indicates they are likely tied to pollutants like those found in drinking water.

The violations counted by the Times analysis include only situations where residents were exposed to dangerous contaminants, and exclude violations that involved paperwork or other minor problems.

In response to inquiries submitted by Senator Boxer, the E.P.A. has reported that more than three million Americans have been exposed since 2005 to drinking water with illegal concentrations of arsenic and radioactive elements, both of which have been linked to cancer at small doses.

In some areas, the amount of radium detected in drinking water was 2,000 percent higher than the legal limit, according to E.P.A. data.

But federal regulators fined or punished fewer than 8 percent of water systems that violated the arsenic and radioactive standards. The E.P.A., in a statement, said that in a majority of situations, state regulators used informal methods — like providing technical assistance — to help systems that had violated the rules.

But many systems remained out of compliance, even after aid was offered, according to E.P.A. data. And for over a quarter of systems that violated the arsenic or radioactivity standards, there is no record that they were ever contacted by a regulator, even after they sent in paperwork revealing their violations.

Those figures are particularly worrisome, say researchers, because the Safe Drinking Water Act’s limits on arsenic are so weak to begin with. A system could deliver tap water that puts residents at a 1-in-600 risk of developing bladder cancer from arsenic, and still comply with the law.

Despite the expected announcement of reforms, some mid-level E.P.A. regulators say they are skeptical that any change will occur.

“The same people who told us to ignore Safe Drinking Water Act violations are still running the divisions,” said one mid-level E.P.A. official. “There’s no accountability, and so nothing’s going to change.”

‘Copenhagen Summit : On The Road To the Dark Age’

mindanaoexaminer.com | Dec 4, 2009

By Erick San Juan

Makati City, Philipines – THIS COMING WEEK, December 7-18, 2009 in Copenhagen , Denmark, the United Nations Climate Change Conference (COP 15) the successor to the Kyoto Protocol and will be attended by 20,000 delegates from 193 nations, approximately 65 heads of government (including the Philippine President).

Amidst the climategate scandal of e-mails that hackers have revealed in the e-mail communications of “scientists” of the Climate Research Unit (CRU) of East Anglia University in Great Britain , the summit will go ahead as scheduled.

In October this year, President Gloria M. Arroyo signed into law Philippine Climate Change Act of 2009 that would enable the country to better respond to disasters spawned by climate change. This law which is also known as R.A. 9729, seeks to influence climate change policy into the formulation of government agenda by setting up a National Framework Strategy and Program on Climate Change along with the creation of the Climate Change Commission that will coordinate, monitor and evaluate the government’s programs and actions to mitigate and adapt to the effects of climate change.

Like other countries riding the bandwagon of climate change, it seems that the globalists are succeeding in their effort for world governance in which depopulation is the centerpiece. Why do we say this? The following quotes from the movers of the global warming scare, will give light as to why we are caught riding the bandwagon on the road to the dark age.

The global warming alarm was initiated at the United Nations in the 1980s.The “original” goal was to use it to achieve global governance and fund it through a global carbon tax.

In 1991, Maurice Strong, a key developer of global warming scare and one of the original members of the Club of Rome came out with the report – “The First Global Revolution”, which stated : “It would seem that humans need a common motivation…either a real one or else one invented for the purpose….In searching for a new enemy to unite us, we came up with the idea that pollution, the threat of global warming, water shortages, famine and the like would fit the bill. All these dangers are caused by human intervention, and it is only through changed attitudes and behavior that they can be overcome. The real enemy then, is humanity itself.”

In that same report – “The First Global Revolution”, the concept of global governance was promoted which asserted that current problems “are essentially global and cannot be solved through individual country initiatives [which] gives a greatly enhanced importance to the United Nations and other international systems.”

Also, way back in 1974, Maurice Strong gave a speech at a college in Canada at which he said: “The ethic of abundant resources must give way to the ethics of scarcity and conservation” … “Economic growth is not the cure, it is the disease” He also said: “Frankly, we may get to the point where the only way of saving the world will be for industrial civilization to collapse.”

“The world has cancer and the cancer is man.” – quote from A. Gregg as the opening to Chapter 1 of the “Second Report to the Club of Rome – Mankind at the Turning Point”, 1974.

Finally, “I hope [the Club of Rome] will continue for many years to come to spell out the unpalatable facts and to unsettle the conscience of the smug and apathetic.” – Prince Philip in his message to the Delegates, 20th Anniversary Conference of the Club of Rome (in “The First Global Revolution”). Prince Phillip has also made the statement: “In the event that I am reincarnated, I would like to return as a deadly virus, in order to contribute something to solve overpopulation.” in the foreword to Fleur Cowles’ “If I Were an Animal” 1987.

It is now clear that the forerunners of the global warming myth mentioned above singled out humanity as the culprit and that economic growth through industrialization should take the backseat as climate change will transform into a weapon of mass taxation, as one writer put it.

To elaborate further our point here, the Chairman of the Optimum Population Trust (OPT) of the London School of Economics said, “It’s always been obvious that total emissions depend on the number of emitters as well as their individual emissions – the carbon tonnage can’t shoot down as we want, while the population keeps shooting up.” In other words, the cheapest way to combat climate change is through family planning method of contraception. This was also featured as the main problem – the population, in
Al Gore’s video, An Inconvenient Truth, which is now being lambasted as a film of very convenient lies based on questionable data.

Six months before the Copenhagen summit, World Business Summit on Climate Change (WBSCC) was held and already came out with key decisions for the December meeting. It was attended by prominent world business leaders including Al Gore and UN Secretary General Ban Ki Moon. The report by the WBSCC has been given to all the Copenhagen summit participants which is actually, has nothing to do about protecting the environment. Then what is the real agenda of this global sham?

“The Copenhagen Summit not only serves powerful corporate interests, which have a stake in the global multibillion dollar carbon trading scheme. It also serves to divert public attention from the devastation resulting from the “real crisis” underlying the process of economic globalization and a profit driven war without borders, which the Pentagon calls “the long war”. (Michel Chossudovsky)

The multibillion dollar carbon trading scheme of the world’s financial oligarchs is the real agenda of this climate change fiasco. The large financial conglomerates, involved in derivative trade, including JP Morgan Chase, Bank of America, Merrill Lynch, Barclay’s, Citibank, Nomura, Société Générale, Morgan Stanley and Goldman Sachs are actively involved in carbon trading.(FACTBOX: Investment banks in carbon trading | Reuters, 14 September 2009)

A report from The Guardian also support this article, “the carbon market could become double the size of the vast oil market, according to the new breed of City players who trade greenhouse gas emissions through the EU’s emissions trading scheme… The speed of that growth will depend on whether the Copenhagen summit gives a go-ahead for a low-carbon economy. But Ager says whatever happens, schemes such as the ETS will expand around the globe.”

It is very real that this Copenhagen summit will lead us back to the dark age, where the tools of economic growth will be wiped out in the name of falsehood and greediness of the chosen few, who will feed on the unwilling victims’ fear of the ‘unknown’ – the “climate change”. As panic grips humanity, no one will notice the global governance of the few as they lead us to that new world (dis)order. God forbid!

Erick San Juan: culdesac0002@yahoo.com.ph

One in five HIV infections caused by medical staff

HIV virus particles Photo: GETTY IMAGES

One in five HIV sufferers in Africa was infected by medical staff using dirty needles and clinical equipment, new research has found.

Telegraph | Nov 30, 2009

By William Payne and Mike Pflanz

Nearly five million new cases annually are caused by erratic health practices, according to the authors of a series of papers in a publication backed by the Royal Society of Medicine.

The findings raise questions the international effort to combat HIV and Aids, which focuses largely on trying to stop virus transmission through unsafe sex or from mothers to their unborn children.

Researchers accused governments of ignoring up the problem so as not undermine existing health schemes.

John Potterat, an epidemiologist and one of the editors of the International Journal of STD and HIV, said: “Governments and international health agencies have deliberately chosen to ignore the evidence.

“The studies now show directly that many Africans are at risk from a wide range of common skin puncturing practices that may involve contaminated instruments and materials.

“By uncritically accepting the orthodox view that HIV is almost exclusively transmitted by sex, public health workers and researchers are complicit in prolonging avoidable suffering.”

He and 11 other scientists will publish a series of papers in the journal on Tuesday, to coincide with World Aids Day.

More than 22 million people living in Africa have the HIV virus, which leads to Aids. An estimated 2 million died in 2008.

In one of the studies, patients at the University of Calabar Teaching Hospital in south eastern Nigeria who contracted HIV were significantly more likely to have had blood tests, vaccinations, blood transfusions or surgical procedures. Half of the patients who received tetanus vaccinations reported seeing needles being reused.

Another study in the journal, published by the British Association of Sexual Health and HIV, an affiliate organisation of the Royal Society of Medicine, looked at rates of HIV infection among children in Swaziland.

HIV infections there are the highest in the world at 26 per cent of the adult population, reducing the country’s average life expectancy to 32 years.

Using data from the Swaziland Demographic and Health Survey, the authors found that one in five Swazi children aged two to 12 who are infected with the virus have HIV-negative mothers.

These children had experienced many more medical injections and vaccinations than their uninfected brothers or sisters. Most of these related to anti-malaria health programmes.

Africans are subject to a much higher proportion of injections and blood tests than patients in the West, according to a 1999 study for the World Health Organisation.

That research found that a wide range of common symptoms such as colds, ear infections, fatigue and tonsillitis were treated with injections rather than oral medication.

The study concluded that at least 50 per cent of these were unsafe, with needles being used repeatedly on one patient after another, without sterilisation.

“HIV priorities have been and continue to be misplaced,” said Stuart Brody, a professor at the University of the West of Scotland, in Paisley, who has researched the spread of HIV in Kenya through tetanus vaccinations.

“The mindset is to pretend this is not an issue, perhaps because of the received wisdom or because you don’t get funding if you question it, but this does not save lives.” But Dr Anna Thomas, head of economic and social development at ActionAid Kenya, said: “The use of unsterilised needles is one of the many issues affecting HIV/Aids in Africa.

“But the vast majority of the spread of HIV/Aids is down to unsafe sex between men and women and that is where we need to continue to focus our efforts.”