WASHINGTON, Nov. 6 (UPI) -- A Senate panel Tuesday considered how to keep dangerous biological agents in American laboratories out of the hands of terrorists.
Sen. Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif., unveiled a bill that would prohibit individuals from possessing dangerous biological agents, require government certification for any lab that would use such agents and set harsh penalties for handling them in an unsafe manner.
It would also require background checks for individuals with access to the agents at the certified labs.
Feinstein Tuesday chaired a Senate Judiciary panel looking into what lawmakers said were glaring loopholes in U.S. law that could allow biological agents to leak out of a network of loosely regulated laboratories and into the hands of dangerous individuals.
Feinstein said "intense sloppiness" has punctuated government efforts to protect citizens.
"Amazingly, until the passage of comprehensive terrorism legislation several weeks ago, the law did not actually prohibit any ordinary citizen from building his own private cache of anthrax," Feinstein said.
FBI Counterterrorism Division Deputy Director James T. Caruso said the government knows relatively little about the types of individuals in the United States that could manufacture pathogens -- frustrating government efforts to find out who could produce even the potent anthrax sent to Senate Majority Leader Tom Daschle, D-S.D.
"The kind of background investigations that are required for people in other walks of life are not necessarily required for individuals who are doing the kind of research that could produce very deadly pathogens," Caruso said. "That, I think, is a very good example of how widespread and diffuse the knowledge is to produce this."
Legislation to address the regulatory loopholes and crack down on the flow of dangerous materials is gaining momentum in Congress. The House Energy and Commerce Committee early this month approved provisions to criminalize the possession of bioterrorism agents. Feinstein said her legislation reflected the cooperation of Republicans in the Senate, including Sen. Bill Frist, R-Tenn.
