User:CoKreator/scratch

Mass poisoning and murder plots
Faced with a growing array of legal, legislative and personal challenges, the movements tactics became increasingly desperate, leading eventually to criminal behavior. Senior leaders of the Rajneesh organisation pursued an option to employ agents to induce sickness in the townspeople such that they would be unable to vote during the elections. They conspired to cause a food poisoning epidemic by infecting local restaurant salad bars with salmonella, which sickened around 750 people; the aim being to prevent member of the local community from voting in the county council elections. It was the first act of mass bioterrorism in the history of the United States. About twelve followers of Rajneesh were involved in the attempts to manufacture and utilise biological agents against citizens in Oregon.

Senior Rajneeshee leadership, including Sheela and another senior member named Ma Anand Puja (Dianne Y. Onang), discussed "bacteria and other methods to make people ill". According to testimony given by the acting mayor of Rajneeshpuram, Krishna Diva (David Berry Knapp), Sheela stated "she had talked with the Bhagwan about the plot to decrease voter turn out in The Dalles by making people sick. Sheela said that Bhagwan commented that it was best not to hurt people, but if a few died not to worry." There were also discussions about the use of other biological agents including Salmonella typhi, which causes typhoid fever, before settling on Salmonella typhimurium. which they obtained from the American Type Culture Collection.