KANO, Nigeria, Dec. 12 (UPI) -- Muslim leaders in northern Nigeria are refusing a polio vaccine program out of fears that it is part of a de-population scheme run by the United States.
The World Health Organization, which is coordinating the inoculations, says the refusal by leaders of the northern state of Kano, exposes 15 million children to polio, the BBC reported Friday.
Nigeria has the world's highest number of new polio cases, centered in Kano, and it is spreading to other countries.
WHO fears that its goal of eradicating polio by 2005 is now under threat. The WHO is carrying out anti-polio vaccinations in the six worst affected states in Nigeria, except Kano.
Datti Ahmed, the president of the Kano-based Sharia (Islamic Law) Supreme council, said the vaccine is laced with anti-fertility drugs and is part of a U.S.-led conspiracy to depopulate the developing world.
Since January, there have been 74 new cases of the potentially crippling disease. This is a 30 percent increase from last year, according to the WHO.
It says the disease is now spreading from Kano to other neighboring states and neighboring countries like Ghana, Togo, Niger and Burkina Faso.
