New Antiterrorism Tenets Trouble Scientists

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PROFESSION

Researchers scramble to keep up with rapidly issued rules that regulate bacteria and toxins | By Peg Brickley

When the anthrax assaults of last fall transformed bioterrorism from theoretical possibility to reality, Congress wasted little time cranking out new laws that-target laboratory operations. Within weeks of the attack on the World Trade Center, the USA Patriot Act whipped through Congress and became law, adding criminal sanctions to existing "biological weapons" statutes. A scant seven months later, the Public Health Security and Bioterrorism Response Act was signed, underlining the need to control access to compounds and pathogens with weapons …