Biological Weapons Anti-Terrorism Act of 1989

History

The Biological Weapons Anti-Terrorism Act of 1989 was drafted by University of Illinois international law professor Francis Boyle. The bill was introduced to the Senate on May 16, 1989, sponsored by Senator Herb Kohl, and collected 15 co-sponsors. An amended version passed the Senate in November 1989. The House version, introduced on January 3, 1989, was sponsored by Representative Robert W. Kastenmeier and gained 52 co-sponsors. The House passed BWATA on May 8, 1990, and President George H. W. Bush signed it into law on May 22, 1990. The law was later expanded by the Anti-Terrorism and Effective Death Penalty Act of 1996 and the USA Patriot Act in 2001.

Act

The Biological Weapons Anti-Terrorism Act of 1989 set legal definitions for key terms in biological warfare. A biological agent was any micro-organism, virus, infectious substance, or biological product—whether natural or engineered—capable of causing death, disease, or biological malfunction in humans, animals, plants, or other organisms; spoiling food, water, equipment, or materials; or harming the environment. A toxin was any poisonous substance from a living organism, including its isomers, homologs, or derivatives, regardless of origin.

A delivery system was any apparatus or device designed to spread a biological agent, toxin, or vector. A vector was a living organism that carries such agents to a host. The law extended regulation to private individuals and non-state groups, making it illegal to buy, sell, or manufacture biological agents for weapon use, with criminal penalties for violations. It exempted peaceful, often called defensive, biological weapons research.

This act implemented the 1975 U.S. ratification of the Biological Weapons Convention, though the U.S. later argued that the convention’s ban does not cover non-lethal agents, a position the Federation of American Scientists says allows work exceeding treaty limits.

Results

Initial prosecutions under BWATA were difficult because intent to use biological agents as a weapon had to be proven, allowing a defense that agents were for peaceful purposes. For example, in 1995 Larry Wayne Harris attempted to procure biological agents from the American Type Culture Center for defensive research. The Anti-Terrorism and Effective Death Penalty Act of 1996 addressed these issues by requiring private and academic organizations to register possible BW agents with the U.S. Centers for Disease Control.

In 1997 the two laws were called a model for preventing domestic biological terrorism. In April 1993 Thomas Lavy was stopped at the Alaska-Canada border with 130 grams of ricin, among other items; after being let go by Canadian officials, the FBI arrested him at his Arkansas farm in December 1995. Lavy was charged with possession of a biological toxin with intent to kill but hanged himself before trial. The first convictions under BWATA came in 1994 and 1995 from a 1991 Minnesota case: the Minnesota Patriot's Council extracted about 0.7 grams of 5% ricin from castor beans and planned to assassinate a deputy U.S. marshal and a local sheriff; four members were convicted.

In 1997 a man indicted for possessing ricin and nicotine sulfate pleaded guilty to manufacturing ricin and was sentenced to more than 12 years in federal prison.