THE UNIVERSITY OF WISCONSIN HATCHES TOXINS
Jannaccio, Richard
The University of Wisconsin Hatches Toxins At the University of Wisconsin in Madison, the push is on to conduct biological-warfare research. Last spring, the university hired Philip Sobocinski, a...
...Sobocinski recognizes that research on biological warfare can have harmful implications...
...He is attempting to locate the sites on the poison molecule that make it toxic and allow it to bind to receptors in the nervous system, where it has its lethal effect...
...Richard Jannaccio Richard Jannaccio, a former science writer for the University-Industry Research Program at the University of Wisconsin, was dismissed from his job on August 25...
...It is possible to use it for good or bad...
...Possession of such toxins for offensive purposes is a violation of the 1972 Biological and Toxic Weapons Convention Treaty, to which the United States is a signatory...
...Offensive applications wouldn't proceed "because the Army labs are staffed with good men who would quit in a minute" if they were asked to produce biological weapons...
...He is also looking for sites that stimulate the immune system to produce antibodies...
...Given today's biotechnology and the power of that technology, one can synthesize a protein toxic agent with very little effort," he says...
...as a biological-warfare agent," he wrote in his grant proposal...
...The United States leadership, from the President on down, the management of the DOD laboratories, and the scientists themselves are all ethical, moral people...
...I must emphasize the controls," he says...
...The methods developed through the proposed study can also be applied to other structurally related toxins...
...Sobocinski came to Madison from Fort Detrick, Maryland, home of the Army Medical Research Institute of Infectious Diseases...
...DasGupta's grant from the Army is for studying the botulism neurotoxin, a potent nerve poison...
...Bibhuti DasGupta, a senior scientist at the Food Research Institute, is also receiving Pentagon funding...
...At Fort Detrick, Sobocinski was deputy commander of the Army Medical Research and Development Command, overseeing $300 million worth of research at Army-funded laboratories on five continents...
...As part of his contract, Chu is also studying saxitoxin, a poison from marine algae that was found in the Central Intelligence Agency's arsenal during the 1975 Congressional inquiry into CIA activities...
...To obtain the grant, Chu needed to state practical military applications of his basic research...
...The previous day, the student newspaper, The Daily Cardinal, had published his page-one story disclosing the details of Colonel Sobocinski's mission to boost the University of Wisconsin's commitment to biological-warfare research...
...There is strong evidence indicating that the trichothecene mycotoxins have been used by the U.S.S.R...
...In January 1987, professor Fun Sun Chu of Wisconsin's Food Research Institute received a $509,000 grant to research the T2 toxin, a poison produced by a type of mold...
...Even without Sobocinski's assistance, the University of Wisconsin has received Pentagon grants for biological-warfare research...
...He began working for Wisconsin's University-Industry Research Program on May 1, 1987, consummating a yearlong effort to hire a recently retired Defense Department officer who could help the university attract military funding...
...Profuse bleeding throughout the body is the most visible symptom...
...Sub-lethal doses suppress the immune system, lowering resistance to disease...
...DasGupta chemically alters the botulism toxins and tests their potency by injecting them into mice and recording how quickly they die after injection...
...But Sobocinski has faith that the Army will use the research for only "good" or "defensive" purposes...
...According to the job description posted on campus early last spring, Sobocinski was hired to link faculty biotechnology research programs to funding sources "with special emphasis on the Department of Defense and Department of Energy...
...No statement could be found in Chu's grant proposal explaining the military significance of his saxitoxin research...
...Last spring, the university hired Philip Sobocinski, a retired Army colonel, to help professors tailor their research to serve the Pentagon—and bring funding to the school...
...Sobocinski's annual salary is $55,000...
...Chu says T2 kills "very quickly" by shutting off the body's ability to produce enzymes and other proteins...
...Our work will lead to possible preventive methods and a better understanding of the mechanism of toxic action...
Vol. 51 • November 1987 • No. 11
