Scientist

2001

”’Netesov, Sergey V.; Sandakhchiev, Lev S.”’ “The Need for Creation of the International Center in Novosibirsk, Russia for Combating Infections Diseases and Bioterrorism Threat in Asia.”  STATE RESEARCH CENTER OF VIROLOGY AND BIOTECHNOLOGY NOVOSIBIRSK (RUSSIA), Sep. 2001 pp 349-357.

  1. “In 1992, an International Science and Technology Center (ISTC)was established as a nonproliferation-targeted program for the Newly Independent States.”  p 350
  2. “VECTOR employees have attended dozens of international conferences and workshops using ISTC Support.  Hundreds of our scientists have wisited their foreign counterparts on site.  It made it possible to create an atmosphere of openness and transparency at VECTOR, which is critical to science and scientists.”  p 350
  3. “…with BTEP it is the study of infections representing serious public health problems such as HIV/AIDS, multi-drug-resistant tuberculosis, hepatitis, measles, ect.  And these investigations are being started with establishing the international ethical standards at VECTOR in accordance with international GCP regulations. p 350
  4. “Two very perspective projects will be started soon in the field of development of fast and very sensitive PCR-microchip detection of dangerous pathogen genomes in blood and other biological samples.” p 350
  5. “Very focused are also the efforts that are being planned and implemented under U.S.A.  Cooperative Threat Reduction (CTR) program that relate to upgrade the physical security and biosafety systems at the maximum biocontainment facilities at VECTOR up to the highest modern standards.”  p 351
  6. “Continuous involvement of foreign scientists in work at this ”Center”would be a powerful instrument of confidence building.  It is critical, therefore, that all high containment capabilities and necessary supporting facilities be incorporated into the ”Center” to alleviate concerns over possible prohibited activity.”  p 351
  7. “The geographical location of the Center – near the geographical center of Russia – is very suitable for the most effective collection of natural viral and bacterial strains and diagnostic procedures for the study of specimens from Asian Russia, Central Asia FSU republics, Mongolia and other neighbor countries, if needed because Novosibirsk is the largest in the area transportation hub.  this location of the proposed ”International Center” would also allow us to join international efforts to control and deter potential bioterrorists.”  p 352
  8. “The Collection of Cultures of Microorganisms available in the Center comprises over 10,000 deposit entries: various viral strains, including the national collection of variola virus strains and strains of viral BSL-4 pathogens.”  p 352
  9. “VECTOR houses one of the two WHO Collaborating Centers (WHO Collaborating Center for orthopoxvirus diagnosis and repository for variola virus strains and DNA), supplied with all required conditions for work with human highly pathogenic viruses including variola virus.”  pp 352-353.
  10. “As a result of this research, the proposed ”International Center” can have one of its strategic scientific goals such as making prognosis, based on the data of global monitoring, of what new infections might emerge in the future.  It should be noticed that the most of these infectious agents are considered to be possible bioterrorism agents, and therefore the proposed ICERID could develop the preventive research in anti-bioterrorism direction.”  p 353
  11. “The special attention would be paid to the investigation of the unusual outbreaks of infectious diseases in the region (Asian part of Russia, Central Asian republics – members of C.I.S., possibly – another countries of the region).  This investigation may be conducted using molecular epidemiology approach, which allows to determine the sero- and genotypes of infectious agents, the source of primary infection and even to help distinguishing whether it is intentional or natural outbreak … Such investigations may be made on a regular basis for a wide list of pathogens.  This type of research would be extremely useful both for monitoring of the evolution and spread of infectious agents and for the investigation of possible bioterrorism cases.”  pp 353-354
    Russia, Bioterrorism, Biodefense, Biodetection, Lab Safety, Mongolia, Scientist, WHO

== 2004 ==
”’Santora, Marc”’, “City Opens a Secure Lab To Counter Bioterrorism,” 14 July 2004, New York Times [http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9807E4DA163AF937A25754C0A9629C8B63&scp=3&sq=bioterrorism&st=cse] Last Checked 20 February 2011.
*”Opening of a $16 million high-security laboratory to help detect and deal with future threats.”
*”Today New York faces a different kind, a more dangerous kind, of biohazard: bioterrorism.”
*“The laboratory here, which is testing for bioterrorism, also greatly upgrades our ability to test rapidly, say, for tuberculosis.'”
*“In the new lab, more than 100 technicians and scientists will be able to work at one time if required.'”
*”…secure Level 3 section. Those areas, which hold dangerous pathogens, feature filtered air, sealed doors and negative air pressure, which prevent germs from leaking out.”
*”Since Sept. 11, 2001, universities, states and the federal government have greatly expanded their financing for Level 3 facilities, raising concern about ensuring the security of the pathogens being studied.”
*[[Scientist]], [[Biosafety]], [[Anthrax]], [[Lab Safety]]

== 2006 ==
”’Sabelnikov, A et. al”’, “Airborne exposure limits for chemical and biological warfare agents: Is everything set and clear?” International Journal of Environmental Health Research, 16(4), 241-253. August, 2006.
*“In the case of a radiological terrorist event, emergency response guidelines (ERG) have been worked out.”
*“In the case of a terrorist event with the use of chemical warfare (CW) agents the situation is not that clear, though the new guidelines and clean-up values are being generated based on re-evaluation of toxicological and risk data.”
*“For biological warfare (BW) agents, such guidelines do not yet exist.”
*“In the case of a terrorist event with the use of chemical warfare (CW) agents, the situation is not that clear, because airborne exposure limits (AELs), obtained by extrapolation of toxicological data among animal species and from animals to humans has proven to be unreliable for many chemical agents (Johnson 2003).”
*“The Emergency Response Planning Guidelines (ERPG) developed by the American Industrial Hygienist Association (AIHA) (AIHA 2003) define three risk/exposure levels: level one is defined as ‘‘the maximum airborne concentration of toxic chemical below which, it is believed, nearly all the individuals could be exposed for up to 1 h without experiencing more than mild, transient adverse health effects or without perceiving a clearly defined objectionable odor.”
*“Research on man was not and is not possible, because of ethical reasons, and the most, if not all, the information on military tests and research in this area including animal models is classified (Johnson 2003 is one of the few exceptions).”
*“With regard to CW agents, it is suggested that in spite of the fact that the new, revised exposure limits were proposed or recommended by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, CDC, and the US Army, further research is still needed.”
*[[Emergency Response]], [[Anthrax]], [[Biosafety]], [[Classified]], [[Scientist]]

== 2010 ==
”’Doyle, Michael”’, “Agriculture Department chemist successfully fights guilt-by-association,” January 19, 2010, Mc Clatchy, Suits & Sentences Blog, available at [http://blogs.mcclatchydc.com/law/2010/01/agriculture-department-chemist-successfully-fights-guiltbyassociation.html]   Last checked august 11, 2012.
*”Going about his everyday business in a Midwestern office of the Food Safety and Inspection Service, Poett applied to obtain certain toxic chemicals. But in August 2006, the FBI informed Poett’s supervisors that he was deemed to be a ‘restricted person’ who ‘has involvement with an organization that engages in domestic or international terrorism or international crimes of violence.’”
*”Poett filed Freedom of Information Act requests to get to the bottom of it all. As Poett ultimately determined, the FBI’s career-crimping determination stemmed from his past, passing involvement with a group called the Irish Northern Aid Committee in America, also known as Noraid. Way back in 1992, Poett had written the British ambassador to the United States, saying he regretted the possibility that ‘the funds others and I have solicited may have fallen into the wrong hands’ and adding that he would ‘pray for the peaceful resolution between the British and Irish People.’”
*” Kollar-Kotelly noted Monday that the government determined that ‘the FBI no longer reasonably suspects Plaintiff of knowing involvement with an organization that engages in domestic or international terrorism or with any other organization that engages in intentional crimes of violence and that Plaintiff is now eligible for access to select agents or toxins.’”
*[[Scientist]], [[Select agent]], [[Agriculture]], [[Northern Ireland]], [[Oversight]], [[State Department]], [[Law Enforcement]], [[Law]]
”’Ziff, Deborah”’; ”’Seely, Ron”’, “UW-Madison professor barred from lab for potentially dangerous experiments,” May 11, 2010, Wisconsin State Journal,[http://host.madison.com/wsj/news/local/education/university/article_bc095ae8-5d4a-11df-8e83-001cc4c03286.html] last checked 10/30/2011.
*”A UW-Madison professor who studies an infectious disease lost his laboratory privileges for five years after conducting unauthorized experiments with a potentially dangerous drug-resistant germ.”
*”One person who worked in professor Gary Splitter’s lab got brucellosis but university officials don’t know if that individual, who has since recovered, caught the strain used in the unauthorized experiments.”
*”Brucellosis is a disease that is usually found in farm animals but can spread to humans and cause flu-like symptoms or worse.”
*”The 2007 experiments, which the National Institutes of Health calls a ‘major action violation,’ in part prompted the university to beef up its biological safety oversight. The university was also fined $40,000.”
*”Splitter, a tenured professor in the School of Veterinary Medicine, won’t be allowed to work in a lab for five years because of the violation.”
*”Splitter said he was not aware of the unauthorized experiments, which he said were conducted by graduate students in his lab, and that the university did not properly educate researchers about guidelines for working with antibiotic-resistant strains.”
*”His lab created antibiotic-resistant strains of brucellosis and inserted them into mice in 2007 and possibly earlier, university officials said, without approval from local or federal agencies. The concern is that if someone contracted the antibiotic-resistant version of the disease created in the lab, treatment might have been more difficult.”
*”The university learned of the stock of antibiotic-resistant strains after a round of university-wide lab inspections by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. They began investigating Splitter’s lab in early 2008.
*”University officials said evidence gathered during the investigation contradicted Splitter’s claim that he was unaware of the work being done by his students.”
*”Splitter said part of the problem was understaffing in the university’s bio-safety program, which is charged with training scientists about regulations. At the time of the experiments, he said, there were only two people employed in the program and neither were trained biologists.”
*”In the past year, UW-Madison has hired five biological safety officers and a new director, said Bill Mellon, associate dean for research policy.”
*[[Brucellosis]], [[Lab Safety]], [[Misconduct]], [[Oversight]], [[CDC]], [[Academia]], [[Drug Resistance]], [[Scientist]]
”’Basken, Paul”’, “Scientist, Banned From Lab, Blames U. of Wisconsin for Biosafety Lapse,” May 19, 2010, Chronicle of Higher Education[http://www.chroniclecareers.com/article/Scientist-Banned-From-Lab/65632/], last checked 10/30/2011.
*”University of Wisconsin officials suspended a professor’s laboratory privileges over unapproved tests involving an infectious disease, and said they’ve sent a strong message about accountability for hazardous materials.”
*”The five-year ban on hands-on lab work “does not restrict other people from submitting grants; it doesn’t restrict me from being an investigator on a grant; it doesn’t restrict me from working with others on grants or on science,” Dr. Splitter, a tenured professor of pathobiological sciences and a veterinarian, told The Chronicle.”
*”The case, which dates back to a routine inspection of Dr. Splitter’s lab by federal officials nearly three years ago, has garnered national attention in the past week as an example of concerns that the government may not be doing enough to guard against accidental or intentional spreads of pandemic disease.”
*”In the case of Dr. Splitter, the work involved the pursuit of a vaccine for brucellosis, a disease that humans contract from farm animals. Its effects are usually limited to chronic flu-like symptoms, though complications make it fatal in about 3 percent of cases. The disease infects about 500,000 people a year, mostly in developing countries, where the months-long process of treatment with antibiotics can be prohibitive.”
*”Ensuing investigations, which involved interviews of Dr. Splitter’s graduate students by federal inspectors and a nine-month closure of his lab, led to an agreement with federal officials last October in which the university paid the $40,000 fine. The university disclosed this month its decision to suspend Dr. Splitter’s laboratory privileges for a five-year period, ending in 2013. (He has not been allowed in his lab since 2008 because of the investigation, so the university is counting those years as part of his suspension.)”
*”William S. Mellon, associate dean for research policy at the University of Wisconsin at Madison Graduate School, said the university acted to penalize Dr. Splitter after concluding that Dr. Splitter was aware that new federal rules imposed after the September 11, 2001, attacks on the United States required him to seek specific government approval for his work with antibiotic-resistant genes.”
*”It appears, Mr. Mellon said, that Dr. Splitter—who has spent 32 years at the University of Wisconsin and is one of only about five experts worldwide working on a vaccine for brucellosis—simply never accepted the new requirements imposed on researchers. “Those are hard transitions to make—I understand that,” Mr. Mellon said.”
*”Investigations, both by federal officials and by outside analysts hired by the university, found the campus’s Institutional Biosafety Committee ‘was an organization in disarray,’ Dr. Splitter said.”
*”Mr. Mellon said he recognized that the case highlighted some shortcomings in the university’s operations and that the university has responded, hiring five new biological-safety officers and a new director for the operation. He said it’s ‘silly,’ however, for Dr. Splitter to deny his own responsibility.”
*”One of the graduate students, discussing the case with The Chronicle on the condition he not be identified, said the case pointed out the confusion over regulations and the hassles that await him if he decides to continue working with hazardous agents.”
*”The university’s penalty against Dr. Splitter became public the same week the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences published an analysis suggesting that the more restrictive biosafety laws imposed after the 2001 attacks had led to far fewer published studies in the field and accelerated the rate of researchers turning to other fields of study.”
*[[Brucellosis]], [[Lab Safety]], [[Misconduct]], [[Oversight]], [[CDC]], [[Academia]], [[Drug Resistance]], [[Scientist]]
”’Reuters”’, “Iranian scientist leaves United States, Iran says: Tehran claims CIA kidnapped nuclear researcher who turned up Tuesday in Washington,” July 14, 2010, [http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/38237441/ns/world_news-mideastn_africa]
*”An Iranian nuclear scientist who disappeared more than a year ago and mysteriously turned up in Washington is on his way back to Iran via a third country, Iran’s foreign ministry spokesman was quoted as saying by Iranian semi-official news agency ISNA.”
*”Tehran says Amiri was kidnapped by the CIA. He turned up Tuesday at the Iranian interests section of Pakistan’s embassy in Washington D.C. saying he wanted to return home immediately.”
*”Iran, which is locked in a standoff with the West over its suspected pursuit of nuclear weapons, has repeatedly accused the CIA of abducting Amiri, who worked for Iran’s Atomic Energy Organization.”
*”A man identifying himself as Amiri has variously said in recent videos that he was kidnapped and tortured; that he was studying in the United States; and that he had fled U.S. agents and wanted human rights groups to help him return to Iran.”
*”The mystery surrounding Amiri fueled speculation that he may have information about Iran’s nuclear program sought by U.S. intelligence. In March, ABC News reported that Amiri had defected and was helping the CIA.”
*[[Iran]], [[Nuclear]], [[WMD]], [[Scientist]]
”’Yong, William”’, “Scientist Says U.S. Wanted to Swap Him for Hikers,” NYT[http://www.nytimes.com/2010/07/19/world/middleeast/19iran.html?ref=world] July 18, 2010, checked July 19, 2010.
*”American intelligence officers, most of whom would speak only on condition of anonymity because of the sensitive nature of the case, have described Mr. Amiri as a long-term informant. They said he provided details about how Malek Ashtar University in Tehran, where he worked, had become the covert headquarters for the organization responsible for designing nuclear weapons and warheads that could fit atop an Iranian missile.”
*”During that time, Mr. Amiri said, the United States arranged for him to attend a university in Virginia and supplied him with a driver’s license and Social Security number, although, he said, he had not requested either document.”
*[[Iran]], [[Academia]], [[Scientist]], [[Nuclear]], [[WMD]]
”’Broad, William, A.”’, “Lawyers Look to Exploit a Scientific Error,” NYT, A18, September 24, 2010[http://www.nytimes.com/2010/09/24/science/24scientist.html]
*”The spying indictment filed late last week against a former Los Alamos scientist contains evidence of tape-recorded conversations, clandestine meetings, confidential places for the transfer of documents and a pattern of false statements.”
*”Federal prosecutors charged the scientist, P. Leonardo Mascheroni, and his wife, Marjorie, with trying to sell classified nuclear information to a foreign power. The two were arraigned Monday in Albuquerque and pleaded innocent. If convicted, both face up to life in prison.”
*”According to the indictment, Dr. Mascheroni told an F.B.I. agent posing as a Venezuelan spy that a secret nuclear reactor could be constructed underground for ‘enriching plutonium,’ the fuel of most nuclear arms.”
*”The mistake could prove inconsequential legally, since the Department of Justice could file what is known as a superseding indictment, which adds or corrects information in the original charges. The erroneous phrase would then be removed.”
*”The technical error is particularly embarrassing, some lawyers said, because of the bungled case that federal prosecutors brought against Wen Ho Lee, another former scientist at the Los Alamos National Laboratory, in 1999. In that case. Dr. Lee was charged with mishandling nuclear weapon secrets with the intention of aiding a foreign power. But the criminal case unraveled after defense lawyers zeroed in on factual errors, procedural missteps and conspicuous gaps in the evidence.”
*[[Law Enforcement]], [[Misconduct]], [[Scientist]], [[Nuclear]], [[WMD]]
”’Weiser, Benjamin”’,  “Pakistani Sentenced to 86 Years for Attack,” NYT, A23, September 24, 2010[http://www.nytimes.com/2010/09/24/nyregion/24siddiqui.html?_r=1&sq=pakistani%20who%20attacked%20U.S.%20Interrogators&st=cse&adxnnl=1&scp=1&adxnnlx=1285347696-7qdEGxFkDRZiIXpsnJIxdg]
*”A Pakistani neuroscientist who was convicted of trying to kill American soldiers and F.B.I. agents in Afghanistan was sentenced to 86 years in prison on Thursday in Federal District Court in Manhattan.”
*”The case of the scientist, Aafia Siddiqui, 38, had attracted wide attention, particularly in Pakistan, where she was widely portrayed as a heroine.”
*”In Karachi, Peshawar and Lahore, word of the sentence prompted protests from religious parties, which announced plans for nationwide demonstrations on Friday. Outside Ms. Siddiqui’s house in Karachi, dozens of protesters chanted anti-American slogans.”
*”In 2004, she was described by Robert S. Mueller III, the director of the F.B.I., as “an Al Qaeda operative and facilitator.” And an indictment charged that when she was arrested in 2008, she was carrying instructions on making explosives and a list of New York landmarks, including the Statue of Liberty, the Brooklyn Bridge and the Empire State Building.”
*”But it was her assault on a team of American officers and agents who went to question her after her arrest that led to her conviction in February on charges that included attempting to kill American officers and employees. She had been taken into custody in Ghazni, Afghanistan, after the local authorities became suspicious of her loitering outside the provincial governor’s compound.”
*”‘“As she did this,” the judge said, she uttered, “in the same impeccable English that she has demonstrated here in the courtroom, anti-American sentiments” like “ ‘I want to kill Americans’ ” and “ ‘Death to America.’ ”
*”Ms. Siddiqui, who has degrees from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and Brandeis University, had punctuated her trial with numerous outbursts, resulting in ejections from the courtroom.”
*”At her sentencing, she rolled her eyes and made dismissive motions when one of her lawyers argued on her behalf. Her legal team, with which she has not cooperated, has maintained she was mentally ill, but prosecutors and the judge — and Ms. Siddiqui — disagreed.”
*”Ms. Cardi cited a five-year period, starting in 2003, when Ms. Siddiqui’s whereabouts were unknown; her supporters have claimed she was taken by American forces and tortured in Afghanistan, an accusation that is widely accepted in Pakistan, but is rejected by American officials.”
*”For example, referring to the five-year period of Ms. Siddiqui’s disappearance and claims of torture, he said, ‘I am aware of no evidence in the record to substantiate these allegations or to establish them as fact.'”
*[[Law Enforcement]], [[Scientist]], [[Academia]], [[Pakistan]]

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