USAPA yields controversy

In an attempt to protect Americans
from potential biological attacks,
President Bush signed the USA Patriot
Act (USAPA) into law amid anthrax
fears in 2001, criminalizing anyone
who "mishandles" deadly viruses,
bacteria and toxins. Last year, Congress
passed another bill, The Public
Health Security and Bioterrorism Preparedness
and Response Act of 2002,
initiating a tougher regulation of biological
agents.

Scientists working on various
projects with some deadly biological
agents have begun to raise their concerns
that the new laws could slow
down important medical research.
Many agree that these laws may
unintentionally hamper the fight
against natural diseases, preventing
the development of potential vaccines
or cures.

Samples of toxic materials, such as
Ebola, yellow fever viruses, bacillus
anthracis, francisella tularensis, ricin,
shigatoxin and tetrodoxin are widely
stored across the nation for those scientists
who are working to cure various
animal and human diseases.
These samples provide essential information
about natural diseases. However, the number of available
samples has reduced significantly
over the past couple of years, making
it more difficult for scientists to conduct
their projects.

Scientists have also moved on to
other research, fearing possible legal
penalties of up to 10 years in prison or
a $250,000 fine.

Problems are most evident in the
case of Tom Foral, a graduate student
at the University of Connecticut, who
faced criminal charges last year when
visiting FBI agents found two vials
containing anthrax-infected animal
tissues in his personal laboratory
freezer.

The samples should have been
destroyed when his professor told him
to clear out the freezer, but he saved
the vials. The samples posed no direct
health threat, but officials argued
that anthrax might have been cultured
from the infected tissues.

Last July, federal prosecutors
charged him with "unjustified possession
of a select agent" under the
Patriot Act. However, many scientists
are arguing that Foral did nothing
wrong in the line of research, because
obtaining large reference
collection of samples in a scientific
research like his is crucial.

Foral said when his professor had
told him to "clear out" the freezer,
he assumed his professor had meant
"save what you can use and destroy
the rest." He and his prosecutors
are currently working on a deal involving
a visit to a probation officer,
some community service
hours and a permanent record on
his file. Foral is now working on the
West Nile virus at the same institution.

Foral is not the only victim in the
battle against the bioterrorism. Over
the past couple of years, the government
has conducted careful
probes, leading to the destruction
of many samples, including the entire
anthrax collection at Iowa State
University.

For fear of losing all biological
samples of these deadly agents, the
government is finally urging scientists
not to destroy their unused
stocks but to send them to the federal
government's Chemical Demilitarization
Facility.

Only permitted individuals who
have passed background checks
hold access to these samples, and
they are to be used for only federally
funded projects. The government
should be accredited for taking
bold steps to prevent
bioterrorism, but many issues still
remain to be answered: which
agency will conduct background
checks for the scientists? Who will
determine whether the quality or
the quantity of a substance that one
possesses is justified?