On Tue, 10 Sep 2002 03:16:29 +0100, you wrote:

Steve Schear wrote:

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At 05:07 PM 9/6/2002 -0400, you wrote:

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Dear Colleague:

As the anniversary of September 11th approaches, AAAS continues to be engaged in issues that relate to national security and the role of science and technology. One such issue is the safe and responsible conduct of research involving biological agents and toxins.

I really urge AAAS and the US government to focus first on the US Government, as it is not disputed that that entity was responsible for the processing and distribution of the Ames Strain of Anthrax, the only recent bio agent released in terrorist action resulting in fatalities in the US. It would be nice if the US Government would proceed to assign a whipping boy, who will of course show up dead somewhere, avoiding any need for messy trials, evidence, facts, etc., so we can all go back to granting unprecedented powers to our government. And the CIA needs Anthrax exactly why? Since we have signed treaties about bio warfare and development of agents for it, are we to understand that the CIA simply fills in for USAMRIID and CDC in developing defenses? Where in the CIA charter can I find biowar defense R&D? Right. In the meanwhile, everyone should continue to be afraid --- very afraid. It expedites legislation when people are panicing or raised to high levels of emotion.