Several South African scientists who worked for the former apartheid regime’s biological weapons program have had difficulties finding civilian scientific work, increasing concerns that they might sell their expertise to rogue states or terrorist groups, the Wall Street Journal reported yesterday (see GSN, April 12).

Unemployed scientists from former biological weapons programs pose a large potential threat, said Amy Sands of the Monterey Institute of International Studies in March during testimony before the U.S. Senate Foreign Relations Committee.

“Some may be enticed by [high] salaries and other inducements to work for foreign governments, subnational groups and criminals to develop biological weapons,” she said.

Former South African biological weapons scientists, who worked for the apartheid-era “Project Coast” program, are among those most vulnerable for recruitment, Sands said.

Looking for “Stuff to Kill the Blacks ...”

Daan Goosen, a former Project Coast scientist, agreed that other countries might recruit former South African biological weapons scientists, according to the Journal.  Goosen is a former managing director of Roodeplaat Research Laboratories, a biological research company set up by the apartheid government to act as front for Project Coast.

Goosen said that ever since his role in Project Coast became well known, he has had several requests for “stuff to kill the blacks.”  At the beginning of this year, a group of whites from Zimbabwe visited him and asked if he had any biological or chemical weapons that could be used to kill Zimbabwean leader Robert Mugabe, the Journal reported.

“I told them no.  Full stop.  There was nothing that I had to give them,” Goosen said.  “Fortunately, no one asked for the recipes.”

Goosen said a Chinese firm also requested his help in developing animal vaccines.  Creating vaccines is a process not much different from creating biological weapons, he said.

There are several cases of former South African biological weapons scientists being approached by other nations, according to Chandre Gould of South Africa’s Center for Conflict Resolution.  In 1993, two Syrian military officials interested in biological weapons visited several former Project Coast scientists, Gould said.  Although the South African scientists were interested in assisting the Syrians, the meeting produced no results, she said.

“The point is that these scientists were accessible,” Gould said.  “Not much has changed.  Whether they will do anything depends on their financial situation, if they are gainfully employed and how they feel about their past.”

Waiting for a Telephone Call ...

Many of the scientists who worked for the Project Coast program have said that Western governments have ignored their situation, in part because their work was often focused on developing biological weapons against blacks, according to the Journal.

Through tactics such as lacing lipstick and chocolate with anthrax and bottles of beer with botulinum toxin, Project Coast scientists worked to develop biological weapons to use against anti-apartheid activists, the Journal reported.  The program also examined ways to render South Africa’s black population sterile, according to the Journal.

A decade ago, U.S. and British officials were concerned enough about the activities of Project Coast that they demanded that it be closed and that its head, Wouter Basson, be closely monitored, according to the Journal.  The program shut down in 1993 during the transition to majority rule, the Journal reported.

“It was our assessment that Basson was a one-stop shop for anyone interested in how to put a (bioweapons) program together,” said a senior U.S. diplomat who was involved in the negotiations to close Project Coast.

In 1997, Basson stood trial for several criminal charges, including drug dealing and murder, which stemmed from his involvement in Project Coast, the Journal reported.  After the longest trial in South African history, Basson was found not guilty last month on all counts (see GSN, April 11).

After his trial, Basson said that while he would return to his private medical practice, he would also decide what to do with his biological and chemical weapons expertise.

“I am not sure how much those are in demand,” he said.  “I’ll have to wait and see how many phone me to ask.”

Basson also said that South African scientists who took part in Project Coast could still make contributions to the fields of biological and chemical warfare.

“We’re a bit rusty, but we could take it up quite easily and carry on,” he said (Robert Block, Wall Street Journal, May 20).

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