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“DANGEROUS PATHOGENS” mentioning the U.S. Dept of Agriculture was published in the Senate section on pages S666 on Jan. 31, 1996.
The publication is reproduced in full below:
DANGEROUS PATHOGENS
Mr. HATCH. Mr. President, I intend to hold hearings in the Judiciary Committee in the very near future on the subject of possession of dangerous human pathogens, such as bubonic plague, anthrax, and similar pathogens. My purpose will be to determine what legislation may be necessary to protect the American people from the misuse of such pathogens.
These are very dangerous and deadly organisms which, apparently, are readily available to just about anyone, including those with legitimate needs, such as researchers, and those who, instead, may have an evil intent or who simply do not know how to store and handle properly these organisms.
The December 30, 1995, Washington Post has a story with a headline that leaps off the page: ``Man Gets Hands on Bubonic Plague Germ, but That's No Crime.'' The story is more chilling than the headline. An Ohio white supremacist purchased, through the mail, three vials of this extremely dangerous pathogen, which wiped out about one-third of Europe in the Middle Ages. When the purchaser called the seller to complain about slow delivery, the sales representative got concerned about whether the caller was someone who really ought to have the bubonic plague in his possession. Ohio authorities were contacted, according to the story. When police, public health officials, the FBI, and emergency workers in space suits scoured the purchaser's house, they found nearly a dozen M-1 rifles, smoke grenades, blasting caps, and white separatist literature, but no bubonic plague. The deadly microorganisms were found in the glove compartment of his automobile, still packed as shipped.
Apparently, while the U.S. Department of Agriculture requires permits for shipping animal pathogens, at least between States, there is no Federal domestic regulation of who may receive these deadly human pathogens. According to the Washington Post story, ``* * * the only domestic restrictions on human pathogens * * * are the rules the handlers impose themselves.'' As Kenneth Gage, acting chief of the plague section at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's vector-borne diseases division, stated: ``I don't think it's going too much out on a limb by saying this kind of thing shouldn't happen.''
So, for the purchase of three strains of bubonic plague, what was the purchaser charged with? Three counts of wire fraud and one count of mail fraud. And these charges have been plea bargained down to a guilty plea for one count of wire fraud. Even these charges would not have been possible if the purchaser had not faxed a false statement on the letterhead of a nonexistent laboratory stating the laboratory assumed responsibility for the shipment, as the seller had required.
Earlier this year, a group released a nerve gas in Tokyo's subway station, killing 12 and injuring over 5,000. The ready availability of deadly human pathogens raises the obvious concern that such organisms not fall into the wrong hands. The task will be to meet the legitimate needs of scientists while assuring protection of our citizens from the inadvertent or deliberate misuse of these pathogens.
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