Allegations of Biological Weapons Use - Deadly Cultures: Biological Weapons Since 1945 - page 264

The 1962 Newcastle Disease (ND) Outbreak
Cuba alleged that a 1962 outbreak of ND among fowl in four provinces
was the result of sabotage at a vaccine facility, leading to the death by dis-
ease or culling of more than a million birds. 70 Zilinskas speculated that
this outbreak was due to inadequate attenuation of the vaccine; however,
we consider this unlikely. It is not consistent with the Cuban allegation in
2000, in which the ND virus was alleged to have been communicated via
a vaccine against avian influenza, not against ND. 71 Furthermore, most
ND vaccines, including the one common in Cuba, used live viruses of in-
trinsically low virulence, whose production does not involve attenuation. 72
No details have been published about this outbreak. However, Cuba
described ND to the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) as “wide-
spread throughout the country” for each year from 1957 through 1963;
only in 1964 was ND described as “disease much reduced but still ex-
ists.” 73 Given the extensive background of ND in the country, it is un-
likely that any explanation other than natural spread would be necessary,
especially since ND is highly contagious. 74 Even a pattern of ND that cor-
related closely with the use of avian influenza vaccine could result from
the known mechanism of unwitting transmission by vaccine workers
traveling among poultry farms.
Nevertheless, US interest in transmitting ND to Cuba is independently
suggested by the testimony of an unnamed Canadian poultry expert who
traveled frequently to Cuba. He claimed that in 1962 an agent from the
DOD's Defense Intelligence Agency (DIA) had paid him $5,000 to infect
Cuban turkeys with ND virus. 75 He said he had accepted the money and
the virus in May, but destroyed the viral cultures before traveling to Cuba
in June.
Available files from Operation Mongoose suggest that a covert biologi-
cal attack on an agricultural target, had it been proposed, might have
been seriously considered by Lansdale and his operational assistants;
whether the SGA would have approved it is unclear. In January 1962
Lansdale tasked the DOD to develop plans to use insect-borne biological
agents to incapacitate Cuban sugarcane workers. 76 The DOD completed
the planning process in February, concluding that the proposal was not
technically feasible; there was no mention of legal, political, or ethical ob-
stacles. 77