NEW DELHI (IPS)�Far from inhibiting the Acquired Immuno- Deficiency Syndrome (AIDS), the World Health Organization (WHO) approved drug AZT may actually help cause it, visiting independent researchers warned Indian health authorities here.

Guided by WHO prescriptions, the World Bank-funded National AIDS Control Organization (NACO) began administering AZT to HIV-positive pregnant women in India last year after announcing that it would reduce mother-to-child transmission.

NACO Director J.V. Prasada Rao said the program was based on WHO recommendations released in 1998 that claimed transmission could be reduced to one percent when pregnant women were put on AZT and delivered through cesarean section.

"The basic idea is to use AZT to reduce the viral load in pregnant women," said the NACO director.

But, according to Dr. Etienne de Harven, a Paris-based expert in electron microscopy, it is impossible to determine viral load using ordinary laboratory methods.

There was even worse news for AZT proponents in India from Dr. Claus Kohnlein, an independent researcher from Germany. "There is no scientific evidence to show that the HIV retrovirus causes AIDS," he argues.

On the other hand, there is hard evidence that AZT, like several other immuno-suppressive drugs, definitely causes AIDS, Dr. Kohnlein charged, describing AZT as a "highly toxic and worthless drug approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration on the basis of fraudulent research and which continues to be promoted in spite of being responsible for tens of thousands of deaths."

Developed for cancer chemotherapy in the 1960s, AZT was designed to kill growing cells by terminating DNA synthesis�a job it does efficiently without distinguishing between human or retroviral cells.

Dr. Kohnlein said he never prescribes AZT for HIV positive patients and most of them were none the worse for it, as were patients who opted for homeopathic treatment.

In his experience, most HIV-positive patients placed on AZT rapidly suffered immune-deficiency, developed symptoms commonly ascribed to AIDS, and died.

Since AZT can directly cause several of 30 indicator diseases which form the basis for AIDS diagnosis in the United States, it logically follows that AZT can cause AIDS when administered to an asymptomatic HIV-positive individual, Dr. Kohnlein said.

Activists in India have already been questioning promotion of AZT by NACO, accusing NACO of promoting the interests of manufacturer Glaxo-Wellcome.

"If the drug is being used merely to reduce viral load, many proven ayurvedic drugs which boost the immune system are readily and cheaply available in this country," said Dr. Mira Shiva of the Voluntary Health Association of India.

Ranjana Kumari, convenor of the Women�s Forum, suspects introduction of AZT is "another attempt to use women in the Third World as guinea pigs instead of concentrating on discovering the real cause of AIDS."

Suspicions among activists were not allayed by the fact that major drug companies, which produce drug-combinations using AZT such as Burroughs Wellcome, have announced large-scale discounts to promote use in developing countries.

More than 90 percent of the world�s 30 million HIV infected people live in developing countries in the sub-Saharan region and in Asia and, according to UNAIDS, will greatly benefit from price reductions.

But even at the reduced prices, therapy with AZT combinations work out to $600 per month, limiting its use to the well-to-do or those selected for treatment by government hospitals.

In India, money for expensive combination drugs is expected to come from NACO, which began a second phase of its program in December with $191 million of World Bank funds.

According to a WHO document, although surveillance is patchy, it is estimated that more than 4 million people in India are living with HIV, giving the country the largest number of HIV-infected people in the world.

Total costs for NACO�s phase two are estimated at $229 million with the government contributing $38 million and the rest coming from bilateral agencies, such as the United States Agency of International Development and the British Department for International Development.

Activists such as Purushottaman Mulloli of the Joint Action Council, Kannur (JACK) have been campaigning against the "hijacking of the whole health agenda through AIDS hysteria created in the country by NACO. ... The hysteria and scare tactics employed in the name of creating awareness has created social havoc with suspected HIV infected people and so-called high risk groups getting lynched and socially ostracized," he said.

Complaints of exaggerated figures of HIV infections resulted in the Prime Minister�s Office intervening, in January, to order a review of NACO�s activities especially the phase one which cost $83 million.

Mr. Mulloli said in spite of the absence of epidemiological data, or scientific research, India�s health bureaucracy has followed the dictates of donor agencies in pursuit of a vertical anti-AIDS program without accountability.