In defense of Homeland Security, the scientific community is too wrapped up in academic and scientific freedom. Scientists see manipulating harmful diseases as a means to preventing or destroying the diseases. Nevermind that they do not take enough measures to keep these diseases under wraps.

Homeland Security has created rules that govern how scientists access, maintain, and destroy these microbe cultures (Wired.com). Of course, they also have new rules about who can access them. No arab foreigners or felony recipients.

The trouble people go through to get a student or research visa to be here in the U.S. is so much promising scientists go to Europe or Asia now.  William Greenough, a professor of international medicine at Johns Hopkins University’s Bloomberg School of Public Health: “This will set us back 20 years”  (Wired.com).

Preserved comments:

• 9/21/2003 2:11 AM by anonymous: that’s interesting. It hadn’t occured to me that these talented young people would be going other places since they can’t get into our programs here. I’ve thought about how irritating it must be for students abroad to try to study here, but I didn’t take it the next logical step and realize: Shit, they’re not just going to ignore their dream because we turn them away, they’re going to take their genius elsewhere.