Texas Tech Expert Available for Comment in Anthrax Suicide Case

An Army scientist committed suicide this week as federal prosecutors readied an indictment alleging he mailed anthrax-laced letters in 2001 in what authorities said may have been an attempt to test a vaccine for the deadly poison. A Texas Tech University expert can discuss the anthrax case in regard to national security and bioterrorism law. The scientist, Bruce E. Ivins, worked at the Army’s biodefense labs at Fort Detrick, Md., for 18 years. Letters containing anthrax powder turned up at congressional offices, newsrooms and elsewhere in 2001, killing five and sending numerous victims to hospitals with anthrax poisoning. Authorities had been investigating whether the anthrax was released to test new drugs. They were planning an indictment that would have sought the death penalty for the attacks, officials said. Vickie Sutton is the director of the Center for Biodefense, Law and Public Policy, the only center at a law school in the United States to focus solely on issues of law and biodefense, biosecurity and bioterrorism. (806) 742-3990 ext. 264, or vickie.sutton@ttu.edu. For more information on the center, visit www.ttu.edu/biodefense.