Bioterrorism and the Undermining of Scientific Integrity and Civil Liberties

Infectious disease researchers have complained that in order to get NIH funding they've had to curtail work on real public health threats and instead submit grants to study anthrax and other potential biowarfare agents. Such research often requires layers of secrecy and secrecy breeds distrust both among colleagues and with the public. Secret research may be more likely closed to close community scrutiny regarding safety and ethical issues. The penetration of Pentagon and Homeland Security funds in the health research agenda also reinforces the tendency to demand that research reports be subject to censorship or modification to be consistent with policy — a tendency that the current administration has expanded. State public health laws are being modified that will allow greater government discretion to use alleged health threats to impose mandatory quarantines and other emergency measures that may curtail civil rights. In one case, a progressive art professor was framed up by the Dept. of Justice, first on bioterrorism charges and then on mail fraud charges for incorporating harmless mail-order bacteria in an art exhibit critical of the administration. An update on this important case will be presented.