The Air Force Training Command of the US Air Force has published a contract for the purchase of RNA samples - living tissue from Caucasian Russians. The corresponding tender is posted on the US government procurement website. When submitting samples to the Aviation Training Command, the potential supplier must also provide information on the health status of the donors. The military department needs samples of RNA molecules that are involved in the implementation of human genetic information, and synovial fluid, which ensures joint mobility. RT asked the experts for what purpose the US military intends to make such purchases.
The US Air Force plans to purchase 12 samples of RNA molecules (contained in all living cells and necessary for the translation of genetic information into proteins) and 27 samples of synovial fluid (an important component of the joint that ensures joint mobility) from donors from Russia. This is stated in the US Air Force contract, which was posted on the portal of government tenders on July 19.
“All samples (synovial tissue and RNA samples) should be taken in Russia from Caucasians. The government will not consider samples of fabrics from Ukraine,”the document read by RT says.
For potential suppliers of samples, the US Air Force prescribed a number of requirements.
“All fresh frozen synovial tissue and RNA samples should come from normal donors without musculoskeletal injury. Samples of synovial tissue and RNA may not match, that is, come from different donors. All synovial tissue and RNA samples must come from people negative for HIV, hepatitis B, hepatitis C and syphilis,”the contract says.
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The contractor must provide donor information for each synovial tissue and RNA sample. "At the time of delivery, the contractor must provide a sample ID, indicate gender, age, nationality, diagnosis, date of surgery, date of diagnosis, symptoms, smoking history, medications taken, height, weight," the contract says.
Samples must be delivered to the United States Air Force base in Lekland, San Antonio, Texas within ten days of the contractor receiving the money.
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When asked by RT about the objectives of the purchase, the curator of the contract, Marcus Mattingly, did not provide an operational comment.
Valuable samples
The American medical clinic ProteoGenex, which is located in Culver City (California), has become interested in the tender. The organization's website says that it specializes in the collection of human tissue, including RNA, which is extracted from the blood of a donor. It is also noted that ProteoGenex has 200 thousand different samples of biomaterial at its disposal.
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The company has a representative office in Moscow (the only foreign branch of the firm) - "Laboratory of Bioresources". On the recruiting site job.ru it is indicated that the organization is engaged in "the selection and research of samples for scientific medical projects."
Natalya Dyakova, general director of the Russian representative office of ProteoGenex, told RT that the Bioresources Laboratory does not collect samples of RNA molecules and synovial tissue, and she does not know anything about the contract for the supply of samples to the US Air Force.
“I don't know anything about this, we were not informed about anything like that. We conduct for them (ProteoGenex. - RT) only a certain level of research and nothing more,”said Dyakova.
ProteoGenex's California headquarters did not respond to RT's question regarding participation in a tender for the provision of living tissue samples from Russians to the US Air Force.
Non-military needs
The contract for the purchase of living tissue samples was initiated by the US Air Force Training Command. The agency is engaged in the professional selection of pilots and technicians, as well as training technical personnel for the US Air Force. As stated on the command's website, in Lekland, Texas, where the samples will be sent, there is a medical center - the 59th medical wing, which belongs to the department.
“The center carries out the largest volume of medical transport operations in the US Air Force and supports about 1,250 positions of medical personnel who are permanently ready for transfer. Field teams are regularly deployed to all parts of the world to respond to emergencies, assist in unscheduled operations of the Ministry of Defense and practice combat readiness through participation in real civilian and humanitarian missions,”the agency's website says.
Konstantin Severinov, professor at the Skolkovo Institute of Science and Technology and Rutgers University in the USA, noted that RNA samples can be collected for scientific purposes.
“The more you know about the genetic diversity of people, the more opportunities you have, in particular, to treat and diagnose diseases. All people are different from each other. That is, the genetic background and the reasons for how much differences in genes are responsible for some other differences in people are still not clear and are the subject of active study,”the expert said.
Head of Laboratory, Institute of General Genetics N. I. Vavilov Russian Academy of Sciences Sergei Kiselev believes that such a number of samples is sufficient for scientific research.
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“If RNA is isolated from the same cell type, then a dozen and a half genetic samples are normal statistics to conclude that this set of RNA is specific for this cell type. It is also sufficient to find large deviations in some cases. But the more samples, the greater the reliability. RNA determines how a cell functions and specializes. If you isolate RNA from blood cells, it is one set of RNA molecules, if from muscle, another set. If the army is interested in it, then there must be some definite moments necessary for the army,”the expert concluded.
Geneticist and head of Genotek Valery Ilyinsky confirmed the opinion of Sergei Kiselev that the samples are most likely necessary for fundamental research.
“There are a huge number of RNA analysis methods: there are very cheap and very expensive ones. There are many variations of such studies, it is difficult to say concretely,”he explained.
At the same time, Igor Nikulin, a military expert and former member of the UN biological weapons commission, noted that RNA samples can be used to develop viruses.
“New types of biological weapons are being developed. It cannot be for anything else in the military department. Most likely, these can be combat viruses. The United States is trying to develop various types of biological weapons specifically for specific carriers of the gene pool, and Caucasians are needed, since they make up the majority of the population of our country. This is the same focus group to which they are trying to find the keys. It is necessary that viruses act selectively - on certain national groups. This problem was partially solved by the American program "Human Genome". It was also largely funded by the Pentagon,”the expert expressed his point of view.
Dmitry Bulgaru