su-etc
The still somewhat evil empire yields to temptation
a202  0909  14 Aug 88
AM-Baby Parts, Bjt,0836
Infant Slaughter-Organ Transplant Rumors Frustrate Officials
By RUTH SINAI
Associated Press Writer
    WASHINGTON (AP) - U.S. officials are frustrated by persistent
reports - some blamed on Soviet disinformation - that Latin American
children are being butchered for organ transplants in the United
States.
    The reports have been crisscrossing the globe for the past 20
months, confounding U.S. officials who have been trying to locate
their genesis, track their progress and provide credible denials.
    The latest report surfaced last week in Paraguay, after police
raided a house and found seven infants and several pregnant women who
apparently planned to give their babies up for adoption.
    A juvenile judge, Angel Campos, said that while he had no proof, he
believed some of the babies might be dismembered in the United States
for their organs, which could then be sold for hundreds of dollars.
    The story, circulated by a respected news agency, has been making
the rounds of the world press this week despite adamant denials from
the U.S. Embassy in Asuncion.
    The U.S. Information Agency has concluded that all the reports are
based on unsubstantiated rumors which began in Honduras. Its yearlong
investigation - aided by the FBI, the Department of Health and Human
Services and other agencies - has failed to find any proof of the
charges.
    ''The original misinformation would not have spread so far and wide
if it had not been for the way it was cynically used and embellished
with deliberate distortions in a disinformation campaign by several
communist countries, with the Soviet Union and Cuba taking the
lead,'' according to a report on Soviet disinformation prepared by
USIA for Congress.
    The United Network for Organ Sharing, which oversees organ
transplants in the United States, has also denied the charges.
    ''It's very frustrating when you don't know who's spreading such
rumors,'' said Kelle Straw, a spokeswoman for the non-profit
organization, which receives some of its funds from the government.
    Ms. Straw said the United Network had never found any leads to
follow in its own investigation of the reports.
    ''And anyway, it's ridiculous,'' she said. ''Children don't make
good donors; their organs aren't fully developed.''
    In its report to Congress, the U.S. Information Agency cited dozens
of other such reports which have surfaced in places as diverse as
Bangladesh and Morocco, some in Communist Party newspapers and others
in independent publications.
    ''The rumor is gruesome enough so that it would feed on itself
without any help,'' said Todd Leventhal, an agency official who
prepared the report and has been monitoring the ''baby parts'' case
as it is known in the government.
    ''But because the Soviets are involved, we're seeing more of these
reports and with more of an anti-American slant,'' he added.
    Latin America, where thousands of babies are adopted by foreigners
every year, is a fertile ground for breeding such rumors.
    In its report to Congress, the USIA concluded it is sometimes hard
to tell which of the baby parts allegations are ''due to
misinformation and which is due to disinformation.''
    But Leventhal said disinformation experts in the United States can
tell whether the Soviets are behind a certain report according to the
newspapers carrying such a story and the slant that it takes.
    In some cases, the Soviet role is quite obvious, he said.
    On July 25, 1987, the official Soviet newspaper Izvestia reported
that an international Mafia brings up disabled children in Guatemala
and sends them to the United States. ''There, the butcher medics cut
out their hearts, kidneys and eyes,'' the Izvestia report said.
    The newspaper cited officials of the Geneva-based Defense for
Children, International, as the source of its information. The
organization accused Izvestia of turning out ''a veritable
masterpiece: an astute mix of quotes taken out of context,
journalistic comment, established fact and unfounded allegations.''
    The course of the baby parts story constitutes a fascinating study
in the life of a rumor.
    The USIA has traced the original report to Leonardo Villeda
Bermudez, formerly Honduras' top social welfare official. Bermudez
was quoted as saying in January 1987 that he was told by some social
workers several years previously about people seeking to adopt
disabled children so they could sell them ''for parts'' in the United
States.
    His comments were circulated worldwide by a respected news agency,
lending them sufficient credibility and exposure so that they have
been cited repeatedly since then despite his retraction the day after
his remarks were reported.
    In his retraction, Bermudez said ''he confused a simple rumor'' with
facts. Other Honduran officials denied there was any proof of such
practices.
    But more than a year later, his comments were still circulating, and
were quoted - among other places - in the Venezuelan newspaper El
Nacional.
    ''It just won't die. Just when we think we've managed to get rid of
it, it pops up again,'' said Leventhal.
    
 
AP-NY-08-14-88 1149EDT
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