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NEWS ... ... GLOBAL NEWS ... sified reports in an orderly or warfare labs lavishly financed with their AMERICA HAS MOST PRISONERS consistent fashion. A copy of the new share of about US$20 billion by the Bush US Justice Department report released report was obtained by Secrecy News. See administration since 2001 are literally in November 2006 showed that a "Engineering Microorganisms for Energy crawling with deadly germs from Spanish _ record seven million people—or one in Production", JSR-05-300, 23 June 2006 (92 flu to plague to anthrax to tularaemia to every 32 adults—were behind bars, on pages, 1.1 MB) at http://www.fas.org/irp/ Rift Valley fever. Reportedly, in some of probation or on parole at the end of 2005. agency/dod/jason/micro.pdf. the laboratories security is lax and safety Of the total, 2.2 million were in prison. (Source: Secrecy News, no. 127, 14 procedures inadequate to protect the public According to the International Centre for December 2006) from exposure to deadly pathogens. Prison Studies at King's College in London, Under US law, recipients of Federal more people are behind bars in the US than US BIOWARFARE CAPABILITIES funds for biotech research must comply _ in any other country. China ranks second DEVELOPED IN SECRET with guidelines issued by the NIH. These with 1.5 million prisoners, followed by lhe costliest, most grandiose research include making available to the public the Russia with 870,000. The US incarceration scheme ever attempted having germ minutes of the labs’ Institutional Biosafety rate of 737 per 100,000 people is the warfare capability is going forward under Committee (IBC) meetings, describing highest, followed by 611 in Russia. In US President Bush and in apparent their operations and plans. In a number of contrast, the incarceration rates in many defiance of international treaties such as _ instances, these IBCs have never bothered Western industrial nations range around the Geneva Convention of 1925 that bans to hold a meeting. In other cases, the 100 per 100,000 people. biological and toxic agents in weaponry. minutes they furnish are devoid of "The United States has five per cent of Some 113 university, government, — substance. the world's population and 25 per cent of hospital and corporate laboratories engaged Basically, their operations in many cases the world's incarcerated population. We in research—often with potential to be used are being kept secret, according to the __rank first in the world in locking up our for germ warfare—have refused to disclose watchdog Sunshine Project of Austin, fellow citizens," said Ethan Nadelmann of their operations to the public as required by Texas, a non-profit organisation that the Drug Policy Alliance, which supports Federal rules, a non-profit watchdog attempts to protect the public from the risks _ alternatives in the war on drugs. agency has charged. of biotechnology experiments. "We send more people to prison, for Instead of shutting their operations The 1972 Biological and Toxin Weapons more different offences, for longer periods down, however, the National Institutes of Convention (BWC), which the US signed, of time than anybody else," he said. "We Health (NIH), of Bethesda, Maryland—the _ prohibits research on offensive biological now imprison more people for drug law government agency tasked with oversight weapons. If the work is performed in violations than all of Western Europe, with of these laboratories—allows them to _ secret, however, weapons designed for a much larger population, incarcerates for continue to operate. This is a peculiar offensive use could be concealed. In the all offences." stance for an entity that describes itself as 1930s, the Japanese military masked its In the US, the wrongful conviction rate is "the steward of medical and behavioral secret germ warfare scheme as a water extremely high. One reason is that hardly research for the Nation". purification project. any of the convicted have had a jury trial. From California to New Jersey and from (Source: Sherwood Ross, Global Research, 7 In the US criminal justice system, more Boston to San Antonio, often in the heart of — January 2006, via http:/Avww.uruknet.info/ than 95 per cent of all felony cases are major centres of population, biological ?p=29598) settled with a plea bargain. This is because any defendant who stands trial faces more severe penalties if found guilty than if he agrees to a plea bargain. To discourage trials, prosecutors offer defendants reduced charges and lighter sentences than would result from a jury conviction. In the event a defendant insists upon his innocence, prosecutors pile on charges until the defendant's lawyer and family convince the defendant that a jury is likely to give a conviction on at least one of the many charges and that the penalty will be greater than a negotiated plea. It has become a process whereby a defendant is coerced into admitting to a crime in order to escape more severe punishment for maintaining his innocence. Many of the crimes for which people are imprisoned never occurred. They are made-up crimes created by the process of negotiation to close a case. (Source: Reuters, 9 December 2006) unclassified reports in an orderly or consistent fashion. A copy of the new report was obtained by Secrecy News. See "Engineering Microorganisms for Energy Production", JSR-05-300, 23 June 2006 (92 pages, 1.1 MB) at http://www.fas.org/irp/ agency/dod/jason/micro.pdf. (Source: Secrecy News, no. 127, 14 December 2006) US BIOWARFARE CAPABILITIES DEVELOPED IN SECRET lhe costliest, most grandiose research scheme ever attempted having germ warfare capability is going forward under US President Bush and in apparent defiance of international treaties such as the Geneva Convention of 1925 that bans biological and toxic agents in weaponry. Some 113 university, government, hospital and corporate laboratories engaged in research—often with potential to be used for germ warfare—have refused to disclose their operations to the public as required by Federal rules, a non-profit watchdog agency has charged. Instead of shutting their operations down, however, the National Institutes of Health (NIH), of Bethesda, Maryland—the government agency tasked with oversight of these laboratories—allows them to continue to operate. This is a peculiar stance for an entity that describes itself as "the steward of medical and behavioral research for the Nation". From California to New Jersey and from Boston to San Antonio, often in the heart of major centres of population, biological 8 = NEXUS Semerv) Me www.nexusmagazine.com FEBRUARY — MARCH 2007