Did Big Tobacco ignite the Ebola pandemic?

I posted this in another forum, but I feel it warrants its own thread...

It's funny the information that one can stumble across when they aren't looking for it. As I was looking into ZMapp production, I stumble across this little nugget of information. Reynolds America (big tobacco) bought Kentucky Bioprocessing in Jan 2014, just one month after the first reported death in this current ebola outbreak back in Dec 2013.

Now I've never been much for conspiracy theories, but it seems a bit convenient for Reynolds American (which is 42% owned by London firm British American Tobacco) to buy a manufacturer of a potential ebola cure when they did.

At this point the speculation can fly through the roof. I don't even know what to think until I digest this a little more.

nytimes...

Patient Zero in the Ebola outbreak, researchers suspect, was a 2-year-old boy who died on Dec. 6, just a few days after falling ill in a village in Guéckédou, in southeastern Guinea.

Businessweek...

As of January 2, 2014, Kentucky BioProcessing, LLC operates as a subsidiary of Reynolds American Inc.

NBCnews...

But amid perhaps the most ambitious image makeover in corporate history, Reynolds American’s new direction got a timely boost Tuesday. Its recently acquired subsidiary, Kentucky BioProcessing (KBP), emerged as a key player in developing emergency Ebola treatments used on two American missionaries. The medium to produce that medical breakthrough: tobacco plants.

originally posted by: adomol
I posted this in another forum, but I feel it warrants its own thread...

It's funny the information that one can stumble across when they aren't looking for it. As I was looking into ZMapp production, I stumble across this little nugget of information. Reynolds America (big tobacco) bought Kentucky Bioprocessing in Jan 2014, just one month after the first reported death in this current ebola outbreak back in Dec 2013.

Now I've never been much for conspiracy theories, but it seems a bit convenient for Reynolds American (which is 42% owned by London firm British American Tobacco) to buy a manufacturer of a potential ebola cure when they did.

At this point the speculation can fly through the roof. I don't even know what to think until I digest this a little more.

nytimes...

Patient Zero in the Ebola outbreak, researchers suspect, was a 2-year-old boy who died on Dec. 6, just a few days after falling ill in a village in Guéckédou, in southeastern Guinea.

Businessweek...

As of January 2, 2014, Kentucky BioProcessing, LLC operates as a subsidiary of Reynolds American Inc.

NBCnews...

But amid perhaps the most ambitious image makeover in corporate history, Reynolds American’s new direction got a timely boost Tuesday. Its recently acquired subsidiary, Kentucky BioProcessing (KBP), emerged as a key player in developing emergency Ebola treatments used on two American missionaries. The medium to produce that medical breakthrough: tobacco plants.

after reading your thread i had a squiz at the Kentucky bioprosessing website, that's to freaky (not) that big tabbacco buy into that place. What happened to the vaccine (?) That was posted on their website in March. Would give a few stars and flags if I knew how. I'm new to this and yet to introduce myself and make my on thread. Cheers

why are you surprised about this?

Tabacco has been known to have medicinal benifits because the human body is pretty immune to its toxins but that does not mean that forign organisms are as well.

The vaccine is made from a tobacco byproduct.
Perhapse there were studies that were released showing that tobacco could be utilized. Previous to Dec 2013.
heres an article from July.

Antibacterial toxin discovery could open up new infectious disease treatments

The new study, which is published in the journal Cell Host and Microbe, outlines the discovery of a new family of potent toxins, which are fired by a specialised ‘secretion system’ called T6SS.

Scientists were aware that bacteria could kill other bacteria, but until now they did not fully understand how they waged war. To unravel this, researchers from Imperial College London and Academia Sinica in Taiwan studied the plant pathogen Agrobacterium tumefaciens in action within tobacco plants, and explored how it deployed T6SS to attack other bacterial competitors.

The researchers discovered that Agrobacterium tumefaciens’ T6SS injects toxins called Type VI DNase effectors (Tde), which then degrade the DNA of bacterial competitors. Once competitors have been killed, Agrobactrium tumefaciens reigns supreme and triggers plant disease. The bacterium also hosts an antidote to shield itself against its own attack.

Read the rest in the post if you want. But basically, This theory was already being developed and since monsanto and many genetic engineering companies are working on these things its only logical to eliminate some of the most deadly viruses.

Its posssible ebola was being tested on and in some lab or multipul labs and contamination occured. Now it's spreading world wide and these people could be trying to fix that mess. That or it's a superbug developed from toxic sludge or some other chemicals dumped in nature that found it's way from insects to us but who am i to say such things. Bacteria only travels better in the guts of flies and moskitos you know.

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a reply to: Cloudbuster

One thing is for sure, Kentucky Bioprocessing's website has been quiet since their Aug 2013 press release of an experimental ebola drug. Which would have been right around the time of Reynolds American's acquisition proceedings, three months before the whole ebola epidemic was about to pop off.

You'd think that with something this significant to their business there would have been some mention of their role in the development of ZMapp. Also missing from that site is any mention of being bought up by RA.
Why wouldn't they want to take some credit for such an important contribution to insuring health and public safety?

Just something to think about is all I'm saying.

a reply to: AnuTyr

It's not about tobacco being a cure for ebola, because it isn't.

In this case tobacco is being used as a host to reproduce antibodies that were created in mice. This can also be done using other plants or animals as host. Why tobacco?... because it can accomplish this task with greater efficiency and speed than using other hosts. So, big tobacco gets wind of a new potential for profit and buys up a biotech firm using tobacco to produce their vaccines. And at the same time an ebola pandemic just happens to blast off?

IDK

originally posted by: adomol
a reply to: AnuTyr

It's not about tobacco being a cure for ebola, because it isn't.

In this case tobacco is being used as a host to reproduce antibodies that were created in mice. This can also be done using other plants or animals as host. Why tobacco?... because it can accomplish this task with greater efficiency and speed than using other hosts. So, big tobacco gets wind of a new potential for profit and buys up a biotech firm using tobacco to produce their vaccines. And at the same time an ebola pandemic just happens to blast off?

IDK

. Also with people giving up smoking they still want to make money with tobacco.

a reply to: Cloudbuster

lol people arn't giving up smoking anytime soon.

Lot's of people smoke and continue to smoke. People have been for thousands of years, This is why the body is immune to tobacco compared to many other things, Animals insects and pathogens that would die otherwise.

Smoking a couple cigarettes won't be the cause of your Death but smoking a pack a day will.
Besides those facts, Have you tried smoking any other plant besides a green one i won't mention and noticed how smooth it is compared many other herbs that are inhaled or vaporized.

Tobacco is bad to smoke constantly yes but its not the worst plant out there. Spaying a plant with chemicals tho and smoking it after is never a good choice for health.
So blame a lot of the bad rep tobacco gets from common agricultural techniques used in mass production today.

I enjoy smoking, and smoke a couple cigarettes a day.

originally posted by: AnuTyr
a reply to: Cloudbuster

lol people arn't giving up smoking anytime soon.

Lot's of people smoke and continue to smoke. People have been for thousands of years, This is why the body is immune to tobacco compared to many other things, Animals insects and pathogens that would die otherwise.

Smoking a couple cigarettes won't be the cause of your Death but smoking a pack a day will.
Besides those facts, Have you tried smoking any other plant besides a green one i won't mention and noticed how smooth it is compared many other herbs that are inhaled or vaporized.

Tobacco is bad to smoke constantly yes but its not the worst plant out there. Spaying a plant with chemicals tho and smoking it after is never a good choice for health.
So blame a lot of the bad rep tobacco gets from common agricultural techniques used in mass production today.

I enjoy smoking, and smoke a couple cigarettes a day.

I am a smoker too, and I am trying to give it up but my partner smokes too, I have been smoking half home grown tobacco and half shop bought so less of the over 250 toxic cchemicals that they that teally kills you. I know if you smoke tobacco you can't work at a plant nursery because of the tobacco virus you can't even work there if your partner or someone in your house smokes, i tried to get a job in a plant nursery an it was the first question they asked me...

originally posted by: AnuTyr
a reply to: Cloudbuster

lol people arn't giving up smoking anytime soon.

Lot's of people smoke and continue to smoke. People have been for thousands of years, This is why the body is immune to tobacco compared to many other things, Animals insects and pathogens that would die otherwise.

Smoking a couple cigarettes won't be the cause of your Death but smoking a pack a day will.
Besides those facts, Have you tried smoking any other plant besides a green one i won't mention and noticed how smooth it is compared many other herbs that are inhaled or vaporized.

Tobacco is bad to smoke constantly yes but its not the worst plant out there. Spaying a plant with chemicals tho and smoking it after is never a good choice for health.
So blame a lot of the bad rep tobacco gets from common agricultural techniques used in mass production today.

I enjoy smoking, and smoke a couple cigarettes a day.

I am a smoker too, and I am trying to give it up but my partner smokes too, I have been smoking half home grown tobacco and half shop bought so less of the over 250 toxic cchemicals that they that teally kills you. I know if you smoke tobacco you can't work at a plant nursery because of the tobacco virus you can't even work there if your partner or someone in your house smokes, i tried to get a job in a plant nursery an it was the first question they asked me...

a reply to: AnuTyr

Everything you posted about was in relation to killing bacteria not viruses. As I understand it the tabacco plant is only a host used to carry and multiply the vaccine or whatever it is. It's not produced naturally. As far as smoking goes you can feel that having clear lungs is better than not. I've smoked different plants and some are cleaner than others. The organic tobacco options are better.

Smoking is on the decline. Very much on the decline.. This first link shows more to the OP of the same company making moves to keep profiting.

time.com..." target="_blank" class="postlink" rel="nofollow">Big Tobacco Firms Merge as Cigarette Sales Decline

Reynolds American announced Tuesday that it would buy the third largest tobacco company in the U.S., Lorillard for $27.4 billion...
in an industry that has seen U.S. cigarette consumption decline by 4% last year, the Wall Street Journal reports.

U.S. Cigarette Sales Hit 55-Year Low

Cigarette sales hit a 55-year low in 2005 and have fallen by more than 21 percent since state attorneys general negotiated a landmark settlement with the industry eight years ago, newly released figures show.
Cigarette sales declined 4.2 percent last year from 2004, one of the largest one-year percentage decreases since 1999.

You see cigarettes are on the way down. E cigs are on the way up. Reynolds American moved into E-cigs and menthol cigs the only areas of growth within tobacco, and also as per the OP into the Ebola "cure" also another differentiated sector of tabacco that oddly enough should be about to skyrocket..

Somebody is making some good investments. I don't know if they could in some way be related to Ebola.. Maybe they just saw the signs?