The Biological Weapons Anti-Terrorism Act of 1989 (BWATA), ) was a piece of U.S. legislation that was passed into law in 1990. It provided for the implementation of the

Biological Weapons Convention The Biological Weapons Convention (BWC), or Biological and Toxin Weapons Convention (BTWC), is a disarmament treaty that effectively bans biological and toxin weapons by prohibiting their development, production, acquisition, transfer, stockpil ...

as well as criminal penalties for violation of its provisions. The law was amended in 1996 and has been used to prosecute several individuals.

History

The Biological Weapons Anti-Terrorism Act of 1989 (BWATA) was drafted by

University of Illinois The University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign (U of I, Illinois, University of Illinois, or UIUC) is a public land-grant research university in Illinois in the twin cities of Champaign and Urbana. It is the flagship institution of the Uni ...

international law professor Francis Boyle. Esquivel, Adolfo Perez, et al.. ''Let Freedom Ring: A Collection of Documents from the Movements to Free U.S. Political Prisoners'',
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, PM Press, 2008, p. 769, (). The law, known as it went through the U.S. Senate during the 101st U.S. Congress as , was introduced to the Senate on May 16, 1989. The bill was sponsored by

U.S. Senator The United States Senate is the upper chamber of the United States Congress, with the House of Representatives being the lower chamber. Together they compose the national bicameral legislature of the United States. The composition and power ...

Herb Kohl Herbert H. Kohl (born February 7, 1935) is an American businessman and politician. Alongside his brother and father, the Kohl family created the Kohl's department stores chain, of which Kohl went on to be president and CEO. Kohl also served as a ...

( D- WI) and collected 15 co-sponsors on its way through the Senate. An amended version of the bill passed the Senate in November 1989.Paul, Derek (Markland Policy Group). ''Disarmament's Missing Dimension: A UN Agency to Administer Multilateral Treaties (Canadian papers in peace studies)'',
Google Books
, Between the Lines, 1991, p. 93, (). The U.S. House of Representatives version of the bill, carrying the same title, was introduced to the House on January 3, 1989. The sponsor of BWATA in the House was Representative Robert W. Kastenmeier (D-WI) and the legislation picked up 52 co-sponsors as it went through the House., ''

THOMAS.gov Thomas may refer to: People * List of people with given name Thomas * Thomas (name) * Thomas (surname) * Saint Thomas (disambiguation) * Thomas Aquinas (1225–1274) Italian Dominican friar, philosopher, and Doctor of the Church * Thomas the A ...

, accessed January 10, 2009. The House of Representatives passed BWATA on May 8, 1990. BWATA was signed into law by then-U.S. President George H. W. Bush on May 22, 1990."", ''

'', accessed January 10, 2009. BWATA has been expanded two separate times through the implementation of new laws. The first expansion closed certain loopholes that critics complained made prosecution difficult. The Anti-Terrorism and Effective Death Penalty Act of 1996 amended the law to address these issues. (See " prosecution difficulties" below). BWATA was additionally expanded by the

USA Patriot Act The USA PATRIOT Act (commonly known as the Patriot Act) was a landmark Act of the United States Congress, signed into law by President George W. Bush. The formal name of the statute is the Uniting and Strengthening America by Providing Appro ...

in 2001. Napolitano, Andrew P. ''The Constitution in Exile: How the Federal Government Has Seized Power by Rewriting the Supreme Law of the Land'',
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, Thomas Nelson Inc, 2007, p. 223, ().

Act

Definitions

The act broadly defined several terms related to

biological warfare Biological warfare, also known as germ warfare, is the use of biological toxins or infectious agents such as bacteria, viruses, insects, and fungi with the intent to kill, harm or incapacitate humans, animals or plants as an act of war. ...

(BW).zu Waldeck und Pyrmont, Wolrad Prinz (ed), et al. ''Patents and Technological Progress in a Globalized World: Liber Amicorum Joseph Straus (MPI Studies on Intellectual Property, Competition and Tax Law)'',
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, Springer, 2009, pp. 215-216, (). Those terms were:

vector Vector most often refers to: *Euclidean vector, a quantity with a magnitude and a direction *Vector (epidemiology), an agent that carries and transmits an infectious pathogen into another living organism Vector may also refer to: Mathematic ...

toxin A toxin is a naturally occurring organic poison produced by metabolic activities of living cells or organisms. Toxins occur especially as a protein or conjugated protein. The term toxin was first used by organic chemist Ludwig Brieger (1849 ...

biological agent A biological agent (also called bio-agent, biological threat agent, biological warfare agent, biological weapon, or bioweapon) is a bacterium, virus, protozoan, parasite, fungus, or toxin that can be used purposefully as a weapon in bioterrori ...

and delivery system. BWATA defined a biological agent as:Original U.S. Interpretation of the BWC
,
PDF
,''

Federation of American Scientists The Federation of American Scientists (FAS) is an American nonprofit global policy think tank with the stated intent of using science and scientific analysis to attempt to make the world more secure. FAS was founded in 1946 by scientists who w ...

'', official site, accessed January 10, 2009.

any micro-organism, virus, infectious substance, or biological product that may be engineered as a result of biotechnology, or any naturally occurring or bioengineered component of any such microorganism, virus, infectious substance, or biological product, capable of causing death, disease, or other biological malfunction in a human, an animal, a plant, or another living organism; deterioration of food, water, equipment, supplies, or material of any kind or deleterious alteration of the environment

Previous U.S. interpretation of the

(BWC) ban on biological agents was in line with the BWATA definition. The U.S. now maintains that the Article I of the BWC, which explicitly bans bio-weapons, does not apply to "non-lethal" biological agents.Introduction to Biological Weapons
, ''

'', official site, accessed January 10, 2009. According to the

, current U.S. work on non-lethal agents greatly exceeds limitations set forth in the BWC. The other three terms were defined in the act as follows: *Toxin: "whatever its origin or method of production -- any poisonous substance produced by a living organism; or any poisonous isomer, homolog, or derivative of such a substance". *Delivery system: "any apparatus, equipment, device, or means of delivery specifically designed to deliver or disseminate a biological agent, toxin, or vector". *Vector: "a living organism capable of carrying a biological agent or toxin to a host".

Provisions

The Biological Weapons Anti-Terrorism Act of 1989 (BWATA) extended the scope of bio-warfare materials regulation to include private individuals and non-state organizations. The act made it illegal to buy, sell or manufacture biological agents for use as a weapon.Stern, Scott. ''Biological Resource Centers: Knowledge Hubs for the Life Sciences'',
Google Books
, Brookings Institution Press, 2004, p. 31, (). To that end, the law implemented the 1975 ratification of the Biological Weapons Convention.Linden, Edward V. ''Focus on Terrorism'',
Google Books
, Nova Publishers, 2002, p. 109, (). BWATA, which became known as Public Law 101-298 upon its passage and signing, provided criminal penalties for those who violated its provisions.Squassoni, Sharon, et al. ''Proliferation Control Regimes: Background and Status'',
Google Books
, Nova Publishers, 2002, p. 40, (). The act specifically exempted peaceful, often characterized as "defensive", biological weapons research. BWATA, as passed, imposed no sentencing guidelines; this gave judges in the earliest prosecutions under the law wide latitude to impose sentences based on the provisions in the act. Tucker, Jonathan B., ''Toxic Terror: Assessing Terrorist Use of Chemical and Biological Weapons'',
Google Books
, MIT Press, 2000, p. 175, (). The specific section of the law that dictated sentencing for violators stated:

Whoever knowingly develops, produces, stockpiles, transfers, acquires, retains, or possesses any biological agent, toxin, or delivery system for use as a weapon, or knowingly assists a foreign state or any organization to do so, shall be fined under this title or imprisoned for life or any term of years, or both.

The act also provided that if a quantity of biological agent, or toxin appeared to have no peaceful purpose, it could be seized and subsequently destroyed. For these purposes the act allowed the U.S. Attorney General to obtain a seizure warrant. In addition, passage of the act made violation of its provisions a

federal crime In the United States, a federal crime or federal offense is an act that is made illegal by U.S. federal legislation enacted by both the United States Senate and United States House of Representatives and signed into law by the president. Prosec ...

Results

Prosecution difficulties

One of the initial results of the law was the difficulty it presented in obtaining successful criminal prosecutions. Intent to use biological agents as a weapon had to be proven by prosecutors, thus making a defense that the agents were for "peaceful purposes" plausible. For example, an individual named Larry Wayne Harris attempted to procure biological agents from the American Type Culture Center for "defensive" research, per the BWC, in 1995.Mauroni, Albert J. ''America's Struggle With Chemical-Biological Warfare'',
Google Books
, Greenwood Publishing Group, 2000, p. 248, (). To address these issues the law was amended by the Anti-Terrorism and Effective Death Penalty Act of 1996. In part, the 1996 law required all private and academic organizations to register any possible BW agents with the U.S. Centers for Disease Control (CDC). In 1997 the two laws were called a "model" for what may be needed to prevent acts of domestic

biological terrorism Bioterrorism is terrorism involving the intentional release or dissemination of biological agents. These agents are bacteria, viruses, insects, fungi, and/or toxins, and may be in a naturally occurring or a human-modified form, in much the same ...

. Koskenniemi, Martti and Takamaa, Kari. ''The Finnish Yearbook of International Law 1997'',
Google Books
, Martinus Nijhoff Publishers, 1998, p. 44 ().

Prosecutions under the law

In April 1993

Thomas Lavy Thomas Lewis Lavy (December 18, 1941 – December 23, 1995) was an American farmer who attempted to cross the Canada–US border into Canada from Alaska with several firearms, ricin toxin, and $89,000 in cash in 1993. He was turned away at the b ...

was stopped by Canada border officials at the Alaska-Canada border. Lavy, an electrician from

Valdez, Alaska Valdez ( ; Alutiiq: ) is a city in the Chugach Census Area in the U.S. state of Alaska. According to the 2020 US Census, the population of the city is 3,985, up from 3,976 in 2010. It is the third most populated city in Alaska's Unorganized Bor ...

, declared that he was crossing with 20,000 rounds of ammunition, four guns, $89,000, and 130 grams of

ricin Ricin ( ) is a lectin (a carbohydrate-binding protein) and a highly potent toxin produced in the seeds of the castor oil plant, ''Ricinus communis''. The median lethal dose (LD50) of ricin for mice is around 22 micrograms per kilogram of bo ...

. After Canadian officials let him go the

Federal Bureau of Investigation The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) is the domestic intelligence and security service of the United States and its principal federal law enforcement agency. Operating under the jurisdiction of the United States Department of Justice ...

(FBI) investigated the case and on December 20, 1995, the FBI arrested Lavy at his farm in

Arkansas Arkansas ( ) is a landlocked state in the South Central United States. It is bordered by Missouri to the north, Tennessee and Mississippi to the east, Louisiana to the south, and Texas and Oklahoma to the west. Its name is from the O ...

Castor bean ''Ricinus communis'', the castor bean or castor oil plant, is a species of perennial flowering plant in the spurge family, Euphorbiaceae. It is the sole species in the monotypic genus, ''Ricinus'', and subtribe, Ricininae. The evolution of ...

s were recovered from the scene, and Lavy was charged under BWATA with possession of a biological toxin with intent to kill. Lavy was never convicted, two days before Christmas 1995 he hanged himself while awaiting arraignment and trial.Gurr, Nadine and Cole, Benjamin. ''The New Face of Terrorism: Threats from Weapons of Mass Destruction'',
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, I.B.Tauris, 2002, p. 270, entire paragraph reference (). The first convictions under BWATA came in 1994 and 1995 and stemmed from a 1991 case in

Minnesota Minnesota () is a state in the upper midwestern region of the United States. It is the 12th largest U.S. state in area and the 22nd most populous, with over 5.75 million residents. Minnesota is home to western prairies, now given over t ...

.Croddy, Eric and Wirtz, James J. ''Weapons of Mass Destruction: An Encyclopedia of Worldwide Policy, Technology, and History'',
Google Books
, ABC-CLIO, 2005, p. 241, (). An American anti-government group headquartered in

Minneapolis Minneapolis () is the largest city in Minnesota, United States, and the county seat of Hennepin County. The city is abundant in water, with thirteen lakes, wetlands, the Mississippi River, creeks and waterfalls. Minneapolis has its origin ...

known as the Minnesota Patriot's Council mail-ordered castor beans and managed to extract about 0.7 grams of 5% ricin, despite having no specific expertise in biological warfare.Lashley, Felissa R. and Dunham, Jerry D. ''Emerging Infectious Diseases: Trends and Issues'',
Google Books
, Springer Publishing Company, 2007, p. 419, (). The group planned to use the ricin to assassinate a deputy U.S. marshal and a local sheriff. In the end, four members of the Patriot's Council were convicted in the case under the BWATA law. It was reported that the amount of ricin was enough to kill about 100 people.Stewart, Charles Edward. ''Weapons of Mass Casualties and Terrorism Response Handbook'',
Google Books
, Jones & Bartlett Publishers, 2006, p. 83, (). Since the first convictions under BWATA others have faced prosecution stemming from the provisions in the law, some were successful, others were not. A man indicted under the provisions of the act for possessing ricin and nicotine sulfate in 1997 pleaded guilty to manufacturing ricin in October of that year. He was sentenced to more than 12 years in U.S. federal prison. Cordesman, Anthony H. (Center for Strategic and International Studies - Washington, D.C.). ''Terrorism, Asymmetric Warfare and Weapons of Mass Destruction: Defending the U.S. Homeland'',
Google Books
, Greenwood Publishing Group, 2002, p. 28, ().

References

External links

Anti-Terrorism and Effective Death Penalty Act of 1996
", full resources from ''

'', accessed January 10, 2009. * Boyle, Francis A.
Faculty Lecture on Bio/Warfare/Terrorism/Weapons
, April 18, 2002, University of Illinois, accessed January 10, 2008. {{U.S. biological defense 1989 in law Biological warfare Terrorism laws in the United States United States federal criminal legislation