Virus Smugglers Sentenced

August 19, 2005 — Alan Scheidt
  [ES]

On July 21st a federal judge in Bangor, Maine sentenced 6 people in a case involving smuggling an avian virus into the US. The case dates back to 1998 when executives at the Maine Biological Laboratory (MBL) reportedly smuggled an avian influenza virus from chicken flocks in Saudi Arabia to produce a vaccine. MBL officials falsified records and shipped the vaccine back to the Saudi producers. The lab was paid nearly $900,000 for 8000 bottles of the vaccine.

All 6 defendants, including Dr. Mark Dekich, a veterinarian for the Saudi Arabian flocks, and a University of Delaware professor and researcher, Dr. John Rosenberger, pleaded guilty to a variety of charges and were sentenced to prison terms ranging from 2 years probation to 1 year and a day plus fines of $5000 to $30,000. MBL also pleaded guilty to similar charges and faces fines which could exceed $300,000 when sentenced in August.

US District Judge John Woodcock compared the crimes to those of drug dealers selling crack. "I consider these sentences to be extraordinarily lenient - too lenient for the crimes committed," Woodcock said. "It is not uncommon in this courtroom for me to impose 10-, 12- or 15-year sentences to young men and women who sell crack on the streets of Waterville, Augusta and Bangor. ...

"Your actions, each of them individually and collectively, were every bit as dangerous as were those defendants'," the judge said.

Source: Friday, July 22, 2005 - Bangor Daily News http://www.bangornews.com/news/templates/?a=116855

---

Alan Scheidt is the section editor for new drug products.