"College fined over risky experiments with HIV" 

    The Imperial College of Science was fined £20,000
    yesterday for exposing the public to an "unacceptable
    risk" from the Aids virus. 

    Despite warnings that it was unsafe to continue the
    manufacture of the virus for research purposes, work
    was permitted in an "unsealable" hospital laboratory. 

    In the event of a spillage, the "highly virulent" virus could
    have escaped and infected someone, Blackfriars Crown
    Court in London was told. 

    But Judge Charles Byers, who imposed a similar fine on
    the college's safety advisers, accepted that the chances
    of that happening were not high. 

    "When one hears the words 'HIV virus', a shudder goes
    down one's spine," he said. "But it is not the same as if
    Legionnaire's disease had escaped from a laboratory. 

    "It is not really an airborne virus in that way. It is a
    contagious disease of a highly virulent type but it is not
    an infectious disease from having the virus blown on
    you." 

    The judge said he had had to give careful thought as to
    how much danger the public had been exposed to as a
    result of the virus being manufactured by Imperial
    College in its laboratory at Chelsea and Westminster
    Hospital. He had then had to weigh that risk "against the
    public interest in this type of research being done for the
    benefit of the public". 

    The college and its advisers, Universal Safety
    Consultants Ltd, apologised to the court.
 
    By Melvyn Howe 
    3 March 2001

    The Independent - English broadsheet
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    "Perceptions" note:

    An apology - so that's all right, then.

    Contrast this excessively lenient treatment - of 
    "fellow professionals" and possible fellow members
    of the same elite clubs and secret societies -
    with the cruel punishments imposed on any working
    class people who infringe safety rules.

    Ie. Loss of livelihood and life bans are often 
    imposed on non-elite defendants

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