WASHINGTON USA Today January 18, 1999, reports the government is making plans for the first time in three decades to protect Earth from potentially dangerous extraterrestrial life forms. Contaminants, virulent microbes, infectious organisms – all are possible as NASA retrieves samples from places like Mars during unprecedented space exploration in the new millennium. "If there is a living organism in a sample you bring back, you don't just want to let it out," said Margaret Race, a biologist at the Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence Institute in Mountain View, Calif. Quietly and without announcing it, scientists will begin meeting next month to recommend ways to contain any space bugs. The Agriculture and Interior departments and the Environmental Protection Agency will look at protecting crops, livestock, air and water. The National Institutes of Health and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention are involved because of possible human risks from disease. The National Science Foundation has experience with organisms that live in extreme environments like Antarctica. Not since the first of the manned Apollo moon missions in July 1969 has the government had such a worry. But over the next decade, unmanned craft will be launched to carry back soil, dust and particles from Mars, comets, asteroids and the sun. Scientists agree that risks are slim, but they're taking no chances. "That's the most cautious way to proceed." NASA's John Rummel said. Thanks to Stig Agermose.

January 21, 1999
George A. Filer
Filer's Files #3-1999
Majorstar@aol.com