This Article  • References  • Full text PDF  • Send to a friend  • Save in My Folder  • Save to citation manager  • Permissions  Citing Articles  • Citing articles on HighWire  • Contact me when this article is cited  Related Content  • Similar articles in JAMA  Topic Collections  • Bioterrorism  • Alert me on articles by topic  Social Bookmarking   What's this?

James R. Ferguson, JD

JAMA. 1997;278(5):357-360.

Abstract
During the past 8 years, the US Congress has developed a comprehensive legal framework to prevent the illegitimate use of toxins and infectious agents. As part of this framework, Congress has defined as a federal crime virtually every step in the process of developing or acquiring a biological agent for use as a weapon. At the same time, Congress has vested federal law enforcement agencies with broad civil and investigative powers to enable the government to intervene before such weapons are used or even developed. Finally, Congress has directed the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to establish a regulatory regime to monitor the location and transfer of hazardous biological agents and to insure that any use of such agents complies with appropriate biosafety requirements.

Author Affiliations
From Northwestern University School of Law, Northwestern University Medical School, and Sonnenschein Nath & Rosenthal, Chicago, Ill.

Footnotes
Reprints: James R. Ferguson, JD, Sonnenschein Nath & Rosenthal, 8000 Sears Tower, Chicago, IL 60606.

CiteULike    Connotea    Del.icio.us    Digg    Reddit    Technorati    Twitter     What's this?

THIS ARTICLE HAS BEEN CITED BY OTHER ARTICLES

Bioterrorism
Bellamy and Freedman
QJM 2001;94:227-234.
FULL TEXT  

Chemical-Biological Terrorism and Its Impact on Children: A Subject Review
Committee on Environmental Health and Committee on
Pediatrics 2000;105:662-670.
ABSTRACT | FULL TEXT  

Infectious Disease and Biological Weapons: Prophylaxis and Mitigation
Lederberg
JAMA 1997;278:435-436.
ABSTRACT