New York Academy of Sciences criticizes government treatment of plague researcher

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http://www.biomedcentral.com/news/20030922/07

 

More support for ButlerNew York Academy of Sciences criticizes government

treatment of plague researcher | By John Dudley Miller

 

 

Another prestigious scientific organization has written to Attorney General John

Ashcroft to protest the government's prosecution of Professor Thomas Butler of

Texas Tech University, an internationally renowned plague researcher. The

government alleges that he smuggled 30 vials of plague into the country and then

told the FBI in January that they were missing, when in fact he had actually

destroyed them.

 

On the heels of a similar letter sent to Ashcroft last month by the presidents

of the National Academy of Sciences and its companion medical organization, the

Institute of Medicine, the September 18 letter from the New York Academy of

Sciences (NYAS) castigates the Justice Department for " selective prosecution, "

" piling on " of extra charges, and blowing " the whole episode out of proportion. "

 

" What we know raises serious questions about Dr. Butler's treatment and concern

about preserving neutrally supportive relationships between our government and

the scientific community, " stated the letter signed by the chair of the NYAS's

Committee on Human Rights of Scientists, Joseph Birman, a professor of physics

at the City College of New York.

 

In its strongest charge, the NYAS letter goes well beyond the national

academies' protest, suggesting that Butler's " confession " was a false charge.

" Based upon press reports of the circumstances under which this 'confession' was

obtained, " Birman wrote, " it is extremely difficult to credit the validity of

the 'confession'…. "

 

One of Butler's attorneys has claimed that the confession came only after a long

overnight interrogation by FBI agents, who told Butler he had to sign the

confession. According to Jonathan Turley, a prominent national security lawyer

who is a professor at George Washington University Law School, the FBI promised

Butler that if he signed, they could close the case and he would go free.

 

" While, once again, we do not claim to have knowledge of all the specific

facts, " the NYAS letter continued, " the unavoidable impression here is that—if

there is no substance to the Government's threshold claim of false statement to

the FBI—the Government is nevertheless determined to obtain a conviction of Dr.

Butler on something, indeed, anything. "

 

" We find extremely troublesome the 'piling on' of 'Theft,' 'Embezzlement,'

'Fraud,' 'Smuggling,' and 'False Tax Return' charges…. " the letter also said. In

summary, Birman asked Ashcroft to reexamine " whether this highly unusual

prosecution of Dr. Butler is, in truth, in the national interest or serves our

national security. "

Links for this article

P. Brickley, " Plague researcher charged with new crimes, " The Scientist,

September 4, 2003.

http://www.biomedcentral.com/news/20030904/04/

 

New York Academy of Sciences

http://www.nyas.org/index.cfm

 

JD Miller, " Smallpox expert decries treatment of two scientists, " The Scientist,

September 5, 2003.

http://www.biomedcentral.com/news/20030905/04/

 

 

 

 

 

 

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