Biological weapons and US law
J. R. Ferguson
Northwestern University School of Law, Chicago, Ill., USA.
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.
