The organization happily complied with the FBI. But the official scrutiny fuels a growing uneasiness among some US life scientists. Once touted as the leaders of the country's next economic miracle—a burgeoning biotechnology sector—they increasingly feel themselves the targets of paranoia and misunderstanding.
The controversy over cloning and stem cell research had already created a rift between biologists and policymakers. The investigation into anthrax-tainted mail that prompted the FBI's inquiry about the ASM membership has only heightened some biologists' worries that the federal government now views them with distrust.
"Science has gone from a very mildly regulated industry to one of the most regulated," says Sharon Krag, associate dean for graduate education and research at Johns Hopkins University's Bloomberg School of Public Health. "This was an issue before Sept. 11 and anthrax. But those events have made things more acute."
Krag cheerfully acknowledges that the public has a right to ...
