§6771 — Title 22 Foreign Relations and Intercourse | U.S. Code

Summary

The Secretary of Defense and any U.S. officer or employee may not, directly or through a contract, test chemical or biological agents on civilian populations or use people as human test subjects for those agents. That rule does not stop actions that other parts of this chapter allow (see section 6701(8)). A "biological agent" means a microorganism or its parts that can cause death or illness, spoil supplies, or harm the environment.

Title 22, §6771

Foreign Relations and Intercourse — Source: USLM XML via OLRC

(a)Neither the Secretary of Defense nor any other officer or employee of the United States may, directly or by contract—

(1)conduct any test or experiment involving the use of any chemical or biological agent on a civilian population; or

(2)use human subjects for the testing of chemical or biological agents.

(b)Nothing in subsection (a) may be construed to prohibit actions carried out for purposes not prohibited by this chapter (as defined in section 6701(8) of this title).

(c)In this section, the term “biological agent” means any micro-organism (including bacteria, viruses, fungi, rickettsiae or protozoa), pathogen, or infectious substance, or any naturally occurring, bio-engineered or synthesized component of any such micro-organism, pathogen, or infectious substance, whatever its origin or method of production, capable of causing—

(1)death, disease, or other biological malfunction in a human, an animal, a plant, or another living organism;

(2)deterioration of food, water, equipment, supplies, or materials of any kind; or

(3)deleterious alteration of the environment.

Notes & Related Subsidiaries

Editorial Notes

References in Text

This chapter, referred to in subsec. (b), was in the original “this Act” and was translated as reading “this division”, meaning div. I of Pub. L. 105–277, Oct. 21, 1998, 112 Stat. 2681–856, known as the Chemical Weapons Convention Implementation Act of 1998, to reflect the probable intent of Congress. For complete classification of division I to the Code, see

Short Title

note set out under section 6701 of this title and Tables.

§6771 Prohibition