Jailed microbiologist's appeal rejected

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http://www.newscientist.com/channel/opinion/mg18825243.600.html

 

A COURT in Texas has rejected an appeal from Thomas Butler, the microbiologist

jailed after reporting that plague bacilli were missing from his laboratory in

2003. Police accused him of making a false report, but Butler was eventually

sentenced to two years in prison for unrelated financial irregularities and for

shipping bacilli without the proper paperwork.

 

Some researchers believe the US government has used the case to frighten

scientists into obeying tough new laws for research on microbes considered to be

potential bioweapons (New Scientist, 8 November 2003, p 6). " I know dozens of

people who deplore what happened to Tom but are afraid to speak out, " says

Stanley Falkow of Stanford University in California.

 

Butler's lawyers plan to appeal further, while colleagues are trying to find him

a job for when he is released, possibly in January. Butler lost his faculty

position and medical licence after his conviction and owes more than $1 million

in legal fees.

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