In article <bimo76$ghk$1@pencil.math.missouri.edu>, Edward Hammond says...

The Sunshine Project
Joint News Release - 26 August 2003
http://www.sunshine-project.org

More information on this litigation can be found at either:
http://www.nukewatch.org/ or http://www.trivalleycares.org/

Citizens Education Project (Salt Lake City, UT), Coalition for a Safe 
Lab (Hamilton, MT), Council for Responsible Genetics (Cambridge, MA), 
Nuclear Watch of New Mexico (Santa Fe, NM), Physicians for Social 
Responsibility (Washington, DC), The Sunshine Project (Austin, TX), 
Tri-Valley CAREs (Livermore, CA)

August 26, 2003

NATIONAL COALITION HAILS LITIGATION EFFORT TO CURB U.S. BIOWEAPONS 
BOOM, CALLS FOR NATIONAL REVIEW

A national coalition of watch dog groups across the United States 
applauds the legal challenge to the Department of Energy's expanded 
bioweapons programs filed in federal court today by coalition 
partners Nuclear Watch of New Mexico and Tri-Valley CAREs. The 
Coalition of organizations was formed in response to the rapidly 
expanding biodefense program and its lack of transparency. While the 
coalition is not against defensive research on bioloigical agents, it 
strongly believes that such efforts be conducted in a fully open 
environment that ensures public participation.

"This is an important step towards a rational re-evaluation of the 
U.S. biodefense boom," said Edward Hammond of the Austin, TX based 
Sunshine Project. "The U.S. government is investing billions of 
taxpayer dollars in biodefense related research, but has no 
coordinated plan and insufficient mechanisms to ensure transparency 
and treaty compliance."

In addition to expanded bioweapons efforts at the Department of 
Energy, an extensive expansion of similar research capabilities are 
being planned by the U.S. Army and the National Institutes of 
Allergies and Infectious Diseases. "These federal agencies are moving 
into our university systems, our symbols of free and creative 
thinking, and creating an environment of secrecy," said Dr. Sujatha 
Byravan, Executive Director of the Cambridge-based Council for 
Responsible Genetics. "This will have a terrible impact on the 
generations-old academic custom of openness that has been a driving 
force behind scientific development."

"The federal agencies pushing the bioweapons expansion are doing so 
while sacrificing basic public health needs," argues Mary Wulff of 
the Hamilton, MT Coalition for A Safe Lab. "Why don't they spend the 
billions of dollars on research that would truly benefit all 
humanity, such as AIDs or tuberculosis?"

"There is an overwhelming and immediate need for a comprehensive 
examination of the U.S. biodefense program and the direction that 
it's headed," said Dr. Robert Gould, President of the Washington, DC 
based Physicians for Social Responsibility. "The U.S. is treading on 
very dangerous ground and steps must be taken before irreparable harm 
is done."

The coalition has actively sought assurances from several 
universities across the nation, including Boston University, the 
University of Texas at Galveston, and the University of California at 
Davis, that no classified research would be conducted for the federal 
government at their facilities. The coalition has also been 
successful at increasing the level of public participation and public 
comment on a number of proposed biological research facilities, 
including those for Los Alamos and Lawrence Livermore National 
Laboratories and Rocky Mountain Laboratories in Hamilton, Montana.

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