Guest guest Posted July 9, 2004 Report Share Posted July 9, 2004 > GMW:_Prof_to_be_arraigned_today > " GM_WATCH " <info > Thu, 8 Jul 2004 21:23:00 +0100 > > GM WATCH daily > http://www.gmwatch.org > ------ > One man's just lost his wife while the other's so > ill he's just had to stand down from his job. The > perfect time to be hounded by the Feds, then > arraigned on charges punishable by up to 20 years in > prison and a $250,000 fine. > > And over what? > > Bacteria of limited financial value that are > routinely used on undergraduate courses and which > " likely could easily be recovered from the clothing > of many students " , according to Prof Joe Cummins. > > But then again, Kurtz did come up with some > extravagant ideas for resisting GMOs. > ------ > Prof to be arraigned today > Artist Steven Kurtz fears further charges on > bioterrorism because of his group's writings > By John Dudley Miller > The Scientist, 8 July 2004 > http://www.biomedcentral.com/news/20040708/03/ > > Steven Kurtz, the art professor indicted for fraud > last week because he received bacteria from a > scientist to use in a performance art exhibit about > biotechnology, will be arraigned today (July 8) in > federal court in Buffalo. He faces four counts of > wire and mail fraud, each punishable by up to 20 > years in prison and a $250,000 fine. > > Robert Ferrell, the genetics professor who supplied > him the bacteria, will not appear in court today, > because he is recovering from surgery. He will be > arraigned on the same counts later, on a date yet to > be determined. > > The indictments allege that the two professors > defrauded Pitt because Ferrell used university funds > to pay for the two kinds of bacteria he gave Kurtz, > an associate professor of art at the Buffalo campus > of the State University of New York. They also > defrauded the biological supply house where Ferrell > bought the bacteria, the charges allege, because a > materials transfer agreement required him to keep > the materials in his own lab and to use them only > for research. Each man's lawyer has told The > Scientist that his client will plead not guilty. > > On July 2, the University of Pittsburgh announced > that Ferrell was stepping down as chair of the Human > Genetics Department in Pitt's School of Public > Health because of " health considerations and for no > other reason. " In an E-mail to The Scientist the > same day, Ferrell wrote, " I have had to step down in > the past because of medical reasons, and I had made > the decision to step down again while I deal with a > potentially serious medical condition prior to any > of the talk of indictment. " > > Kurtz remains worried that the Justice Department > might indict him on further charges later, according > to a Chicago artist colleague, Claire Pentecost. If > the Justice Department does so, it might cite some > of the Critical Arts Ensemble's most controversial > writings about resisting the spread of genetically > modified (GM) food crops, found in a book chapter > titled " Fuzzy biological sabotage. " > > The authors define such sabotage as efforts at the > border of legality, illegality, and unregulated > actions to convince companies that market GM seeds > to stop doing so. Although they do not advocate > physical harm to any person, they suggest releasing > large numbers of mutant flies near GM laboratories > to create a nuisance that will slow down the work. > The authors also describe how to interfere with > sample test sites for GM food crops, for instance, > by releasing so many rodents to eat the plants that > scientists will realize their test sites have been > contaminated and will have to start over, wasting > time and money. > > In addition, the authors suggest feeding the > pesticide RoundUp to pests so that any survivors > will breed swarms of resistant offspring, treating > RoundUp-resistant plants with a chemical that > inhibits the enzyme that allows them to tolerate the > product, and binding a dye to that enzyme to turn > plants an ugly color. > > But Kurtz's lawyer, Paul Cambria, told The Scientist > by E-mail that " nothing in that article has anything > to do with " the charges against Kurtz. " In that > work, he made it clear that nothing illegal should > be done by anyone in order to make a point, " Cambria > said. > > Edward Richards, a professor of law at Louisiana > State University with expertise in bioterrorism and > public health, said the writings are not illegal. > " They can't indict him over what he wrote, " he said. > " The First Amendment is still alive and well. " > > But if Kurtz or others should act on these ideas, > they may be breaking the law. " The whole fuzzy > sabotage stuff is just, from a legal perspective, > it's just stupid, " Edwards told The Scientist. > " Creating a nuisance is illegal, " but the authors > don't realize that, Edwards said. > > In addition, Edwards says that it is possible that > Kurtz and Ferrell violated some federal bioterrorism > provision when they defrauded the supplier, because > the post-9/11 laws are so much broader than before. > However, because those laws haven't been used much > so far, " nobody " is an expert on them, he said, so > it's difficult to determine whether the professors > broke one of them. > > Links for this article > Steven Kurtz > http://www.channel.creative-capital.org/resumes/criticalartense > mble.pdf > > J.D. Miller, " Genetics, art profs indicted, " The > Scientist, July 1, 2004. > http://www.biomedcentral.com/news/20040701/04/ > > Robert E. Ferrell > http://www.hgen.pitt.edu/faculty/Ferrell.htm > > J.D. Miller, " Bioterror art case ongoing, " The > Scientist, June 25, 2004. > http://www.biomedcentral.com/news/20040625/02 > > American Type Culture Collection Material Transfer > Agreement > http://www.atcc.org/Order/mta1.cfm > > Critical Art Ensemble Book Projects > http://www.critical-art.net/books/index.html > > Critical Art Ensemble, " Fuzzy biological sabotage, " > in Molecular Invasion, Autonomedia, 2002, pp. > 96-115. > http://www.critical-art.net/books/molecular/chapter5.pdf > > Paul J. Cambria, Jr. > http://www.lipsitzgreen.com/attys/cambria.asp > > Edward P. Richards > http://biotech.law.lsu.edu/cphl/cv/epr.pdf > > The US Biological Weapons Anti-terrorism Act of 1989 > http://sunshine-project.org/bwintro/uscode.html > Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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