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SYNOPSIS: Microbiologist Thomas Butler faces 69 criminal charges in federal court, including lying to the FBI about 30 vials of plague bacteria that went missing from his laboratory at Texas Tech. If convicted on all counts, he could be fined $17 million and be sentenced to up to 469 years in prison. Allies in the scientific community say that Butler is the victim of prosecutorial overkill. But the government says Butler broke rules designed to protect the nation against bioterrorism. Observers say the outcome could have a big impact on life science researchers working with potentially dangerous agents. ***** It...

<p>Federal authorities looking for an answer to the murderous anthrax attacks are investigating a scientist who was fired from a company that has produced the deadly bacterium, it was reported last night.</p> <p>ABC News said the scientist, who worked at Columbus, Ohio-based Battelle, made a threat to use anthrax in the days after the Sept. 11 attacks.</p>

Two men abducted. No ransom, abducted not kidnapped Dissimilar occupations. One with the knowledge of the most successful mass media secrets in the history of modern advertising - the ubiquitous AOL free CD. The other with the knowledge of how to compartmentalize deadly contagions, Hemorrhagic fever (ebola) being at the top of list. Scary stuff. We need to know more. Discussion welcome, links wanted. muawiyah wrote on 11/25/01 5:28 PM Pacific #81 to cake_crumb in reply to #74 It doesn't have anything to do with the Internet. It has everything to do with the fact that this guy has a ...

Scientist Found Slain In His Loudoun Home Peers Alarmed When He Missed Work By Maria Glod Washington Post Staff Writer Wednesday, December 12, 2001 A well-known biophysicist who was one of the leading researchers on DNA sequencing analysis was found slain in his rural Loudoun County home after co-workers became concerned that he didn't come to work Monday, authorities said yesterday. Robert M. Schwartz, 57, a founding member of the Virginia Biotechnology Association, was found dead in the secluded fieldstone farmhouse southwest of Leesburg... See Entire Washington Post Story Here on the murdered Expert here----------------------Scientist dies in lab airlock A ...

LONDON - A British Broadcasting Corp. reporter — and not a top government weapons adviser — was the one who suggested during an interview that a top aide of Prime Minister Tony Blair (news - web sites) was behind an exaggeration of the threat posed by Iraq (news - web sites), an arms expert said Thursday. That testimony by Olivia Bosch contradicted statements by the BBC's Andrew Gilligan, who said adviser David Kelly suggested the name of key Blair aide Alastair Campbell without prompting. Bosch, testifying at an inquiry into Kelly's apparent suicide, said Kelly told her during a phone...

The man, according to BBC Journalist Andrew Gilligan, to have told him that some parts of the so-called 'dodgy dossier' has gone missing, according to Sky News.

The scientists could have been studying germ warfare Some of Britain's top laboratories were infiltrated by Iraqi scientists researching germ warfare in the run-up to the Gulf War, a scientist has claimed. Iraqi scientists - financed by generous grants from the Iraqi government - reportedly applied for and gained research posts in academic and medical institutions. Dr Joseph Selkon, a leading Oxford microbiologist, told BBC Radio 4's File on 4 that the infiltration was discovered after he became suspicious about one Iraqi research applicant. His suspicions sparked extra security checks, which revealed that leading microbiology laboratories had been targeted by...

More Interesting Statistics Impinging on Everyday Life

More Dead Scientists Devvy Kidd April 21, 2002 Back on December 31, 2001, I posted a piece on the unusual number of micro-biologists who died within a 33 day period. If you haven't read that piece, you should so this update will make sense to you: http://www.devvy.com/micro_20020104.html I have received an update from Ian Gurney and with his permission, below is that information: April 15, 2002 By Ian Gurney "And so to the New Year, and still the scientists keep dying. On February 9th. the Russian daily Pravda reported that: "The head of the microbiology sub-faculty of the Russian State...

When the Miami Police first found Benito Que, he was slumped on a desolate side street, near the empty spot where he had habitually parked his Ford Explorer. At about the same time, Don C. Wiley mysteriously disappeared. His car, a white rented Mitsubishi Galant, was abandoned on a bridge outside of Memphis, where he had just had a jovial dinner with friends. The following week, Vladimir Pasechnik collapsed in London, apparently of a stroke. The list would grow to nearly a dozen in the space of four nerve-jangling months. Stabbed in Leesburg, Va. Suffocated in an air-locked lab in...

Former Army microbiologist Steven J. Hatfill is either a pawn in an FBI attempt to recharge its stalled anthrax investigation, or a potential suspect who holds critical clues to solving the case that has bedeviled the agency for the past nine months. Those two interpretations of the FBI's high-profile search of Hatfill's residence circulated through the scientific and law enforcement communities Wednesday - one day after agents removed garbage bags full of evidence from a Frederick, Md., apartment complex, and, as TV news crews circled overhead, loaded them into a large rental truck . "Their intent was clearly to put...

Victims Identified in fatal plane crash CASTLE ROCK - Denver car dealer Kent Rickenbaugh, his wife, Caroline, and their son Bart were killed Sunday in a plane crash near Centennial Airport. Pilot Dr. Steven Mostow also died. Kent Rickenbaugh, 64, owned two car dealerships in the Denver area. Caroline Rickenbaugh, 62, was known for her involvement in the community. Bart Rickenbaugh, 35, lived in Bozeman, Mont. Mostow, 63, was one of the country's leading infectious disease experts and was associate dean at the University of Colorado Health Sciences Center. Mostow was a crusader for better health, an early advocate for...