Biological Weapons Anti - Terrorism Act of 1989 The Biological Weapons Anti - Terrorism Act of 1989 ( BWATA , ) was a piece of U . S . legislation that was passed into law in 1990 . It provided for the implementation of the Biological Weapons Convention as well as criminal penalties for violation of its provisions . The law was amended in 1996 and has been used to prosecute several individuals . History . The Biological Weapons Anti - Terrorism Act of 1989 ( BWATA ) was drafted by University of Illinois international law professor Francis A . Boyle . The law , known as it went through the U . S . Senate during the 101st U . S . Congress as , was introduced to the Senate on May 16 , 1989 . The bill was sponsored by U . S . Senator Herb Kohl ( D - WI ) and collected 15 co - sponsor s on its way through the Senate . An amended version of the bill passed the Senate in November 1989 . The U . S . House of Representatives version of the bill , carrying the same title , was introduced to the House on January 3 , 1989 . The sponsor of BWATA in the House was Representative Robert W . Kastenmeier ( D - WI ) and the legislation picked up 52 co - sponsors as it went through the House . The House of Representatives passed BWATA on May 8 , 1990 . BWATA was signed into law by then - U . S . President George H . W . Bush on May 22 , 1990 . BWATA has been expanded two separate times through the implementation of new laws . The first expansion closed certain loopholes that critics complained made prosecution difficult . The Anti - Terrorism and Effective Death Penalty Act of 1996 amended the law to address these issues . ( See " prosecution difficulties " below ) . BWATA was additionally expanded by the USA Patriot Act in 2001 . Act . Definitions . The act broadly defined several terms related to biological warfare ( BW ) . Those terms were : vector , toxin , biological agent and delivery system . BWATA defined a biological agent as : any micro - organism , virus , infectious substance , or biological product that may be engineered as a result of biotechnology , or any naturally occurring or bioengineered component of any such microorganism , virus , infectious substance , or biological product , capable of causing death , disease , or other biological malfunction in a human , an animal , a plant , or another living organism ; deterioration of food , water , equipment , supplies , or material of any kind or deleterious alteration of the environment Previous U . S . interpretation of the Biological Weapons Convention ( BWC ) ban on biological agents was in line with the BWATA definition . The U . S . now maintains that the Article I of the BWC , which explicitly bans bio - weapons , does not apply to " non - lethal " biological agents . According to the Federation of American Scientists , current U . S . work on non - lethal agents greatly exceeds limitations set forth in the BWC . The other three terms were defined in the act as follows : Provisions . The Biological Weapons Anti - Terrorism Act of 1989 ( BWATA ) extended the scope of bio - warfare materials regulation to include private individuals and non - state organizations . The act made it illegal to buy , sell or manufacture biological agents for use as a weapon . To that end , the law implemented the 1975 ratification of the Biological Weapons Convention . BWATA , which became known as Public Law 101 - 298 upon its passage and signing , provided criminal penalties for those who violated its provisions . The act specifically exempted peaceful , often characterized as " defensive " , biological weapons research . BWATA , as passed , imposed no sentencing guidelines ; this gave judges in the earliest prosecutions under the law wide latitude to impose sentences based on the provisions in the act . The specific section of the law that dictated sentencing for violatiors stated : Whoever knowingly develops , produces , stockpiles , transfers , acquires , retains , or possesses any biological agent , toxin , or delivery system for use as a weapon , or knowingly assists a foreign state or any organization to do so , shall be fined under this title or imprisoned for life or any term of years , or both . The act also provided that if a quantity of biological agent , or toxin appeared to have no peaceful purpose , it could be seized and subsequently destroyed . For these purposes the act allowed the U . S . Attorney General to obtain a seizure warrant . In addition , passage of the act made violation of its provisions a federal crime . Results . Prosecution difficulties . One of the initial results of the law was the difficulty it presented in obtaining successful criminal prosecutions . Intent to use biological agents as a weapon had to be proven by prosecutors , thus making a defense that the agents were for " peaceful purposes " plausible . For example , an individual named Larry Wayne Harris attempted to procure biological agents from the American Type Culture Center for " defensive " research , per the BWC , in 1995 . To address these issues the law was amended by the Anti - Terrorism and Effective Death Penalty Act of 1996 . In part , the 1996 law required all private and academic organizations to register any possible BW agents with the U . S . Centers for Disease Control ( CDC ) . In 1997 the two laws were called a " model " for what may be needed to prevent acts of domestic biological terrorism . Prosecutions under the law . In April 1993 Thomas Lavy was stopped by Canadian border officials at the Alaska - Canada border . Lavy , an electrician from Valdez , Alaska , declared that he was crossing with 20 , 000 rounds of ammunition , four guns , $ 89 , 000 , and 130 grams of ricin . After Canadian officials let him go the Federal Bureau of Investigation ( FBI ) investigated the case and on December 20 , 1995 the FBI arrested Lavy at his farm in Arkansas . Castor bean s were recovered from the scene , and Lavy was charged under BWATA with possession of a biological toxin with intent to kill . Lavy was never convicted , two days before Christmas 1995 he hanged himself while awaiting arraignment and trial . The first convictions under BWATA came in 1994 and 1995 and stemmed from a 1991 case in Minnesota . An American anti - government group headquartered in Minneapolis known as the Minnesota Patriot ' s Council mail - ordered castor beans and managed to extract about . 7 grams of 5 % ricin , despite having no specific expertise in biological warfare . The group planned to use the ricin to assassinate a deputy U . S . marshal and a local sheriff . In the end , four members of the Patriot ' s Council were convicted in the case under the BWATA law . It was reported that the amount of ricin was enough to kill about 100 people . Since the first convictions under BWATA others have faced prosecution stemming from the provisions in the law , some were successful , others were not . A man indicted under the provisions of the act for possessing ricin and nicotine sulfate in 1997 pled guilty to manufacturing ricin in October of that year . He was sentenced to more than 12 years in U . S . federal prison .