Gates: Bird flu bio-weapon charge nutty

JAKARTA, Feb. 26 (UPI) -- Defense Secretary Robert Gates says charges the U.S. military is developing bio-weapons from bird flu strains found in Indonesia are "nutty."

"I think it's the nuttiest idea I've ever heard," Gates said, commenting on allegations by Indonesian Health Minister Siti Fadilah Supari that the United States and the World Health Organization were trying to profit from bird flu by seizing control of samples of the virus strains isolated in laboratories in Indonesia and other less-developed countries.

Gates' comments, following a speech to the Indonesian Council on World Affairs in Jakarta, were reported by the Jakarta Post.

"I respectfully and strongly disagree with the minister," the Post quoted him as saying.

In a book published earlier this month, "It's Time for the World to Change -- Divine Hands Behind Bird Flu," Siti alleges bird flu virus samples sent to the United States were under U.S. military control at Los Alamos National laboratory.

In reality, bird flu samples are analyzed for the U.S. government by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta.

Siti withdrew the English-language version from sale recently, leading to suggestions of a U.S. quid pro quo, which Gates denied. "It is not true that the United States offered military equipment if the book was withdrawn," the Post quotes him as saying.

The publication of Siti's book marked the final chapter in the row over the fate of virus strains isolated in laboratories in Indonesia, the country where more human cases of the deadly disease have emerged than anywhere else.

Last week the government finally resumed sending samples to U.S. and U.N. labs, after a long hiatus caused by fears about the commercial exploitation of the viruses.